The Richmond men’s basketball team shocked Purdue, 65-54, on Saturday and took home the Chicago Invitational tournament title.
Senior guard Kevin Anderson poured in 28 points and helped the Spiders knock off the No. 8 team in the country. Justin Harper had 14 points and Darien Brothers added 11 points for Richmond, which extended its win-streak to four games.
Richmond took a 10-point lead into halftime and held Purdue to 14 first-half points. The Boilermakers struggled to shoot the ball (30.2 field goal percentage) and top scorers JaJuan Johnson and E’Twaun Moore combined to shoot just 8-for-28 from the field.
The Spiders kicked off their impressive tournament run by squashing Southern, 81-40. Derrick Williams came off the bench to lead the team with 16 points. Richmond then defeated Wright State, 71-61, as Dan Geriot had 18 points, while Brothers and Anderson contributed 16 and 15 points, respectively.
Anderson was named tournament MVP after averaging 18.0 points, 3.3 assists, and 4.0 rebounds in leading his team to a perfect 3-0 week. The senior was also named Atlantic 10 Player of the Week.
The Spiders (6-1) will travel to face Old Dominion and Arizona State this week.
Duquesne takes 2
Duquesne turned in two dominant performances this week to improve their record to 3-1.
The Dukes began their week with a 90-54 route of Bowling Green, then broke the 100-point barrier with a 101-69 win over Maryland, Baltimore County.
B.J. Monteiro scored 21 points and went 9-for-10 from the floor in only 17 minutes of play to help Duquesne secure the victory. Bill Clark provided 16 points, Sean Johnson tossed in 12 off the bench and Mike Talley and T.J. McConnell tallied 10 points apiece. McConnell was one assist shy of his first collegiate triple-double.
Later in the week, Clark led all scorers with 18 points in a game that saw six Dukes reach double figures versus UMBC.
Damian Saunders registered 17 points, while Monteiro and Johnson again came off the bench to score 12 points. Talley and Joel Wright wrapped up the scoring with 11 points each.
The Dukes, who are coming off of a 16-15 season last year, currently sit fifth in the nation in points per game and second in the nation in assists per game.
They will get a huge test this Wednesday when No. 5 Pittsburgh comes to town.
Xavier wins 3OT thriller
On Saturday, Xavier needed three overtimes to beat Wofford and extend its home-court winning streak to 27 games.
With the score deadlocked at 62 after regulation, Tu Holloway (28 points) and Jamel McLean (22 points, 12 rebounds) provided the Musketeers with some late game heroics in overtime of their 94-90 victory.
Wofford looked to have the game wrapped up, leading 75-72 with 2.2 seconds to go in the first overtime. Xavier’s Dante Jackson was at the line for two free throws, making the first and purposely missing the second so Xavier would have an opportunity for the rebound. The ball was juggled around before finally being tipped in as the buzzer sounded by McLean to tie the score at 75.
Holloway banked in a layup with 9.2 seconds remaining to give the Musketeers a 92-90 lead in the final overtime. The layup proved to be the game winner as Wofford’s Noah Dahlman (33 points) missed the potential game-tying shot.
Holloway and McLean got plenty of help thanks to career-games for Mark Lyons and Kenny Frease. Lyons tallied a career-high 25 points and Frease had a career best 18 rebounds to go along with 12 points.
Xavier (5-1) is on the road this week to face Miami of Ohio.
Jackson Alexander can be reached at [email protected].
