Richmond guard Kendall Anthony converted one of two free throw attempts with 4.7 seconds left to pull out an 83-82 overtime win against James Madison in a non-conference basketball game Saturday night at the JMU Convocation Center.
UR won its fourth game in a row, three against Colonial Athletic Association schools, to improve to 8-2. JMU had won consecutive games before falling to 3-6 overall and evening its current five-game home stand at 2-2.
JMU rallied from a late six-point deficit to tie the game in regulation and again fought from behind to overcome a four-point deficit with 1:49 to go in overtime. Trailing 82-78, senior guard Devon Moore (Columbus, Ohio/Northland) hit a layup to cut the deficit in half.
Richmond turned the ball over and Moore hit 1-of-2 free throws after being fouled to put the Dukes within a point at 82-81. On the miss of the second attempt, Moore ended up with a steal off a Richmond rebound and again hit 1-of-2 free throws to knot the game at 82-82 with 20 seconds left.
On Richmond’s final possession, Anthony made a move towards the left side of the lane and made contact in the air with JMU senior guard A.J. Davis (Columbus, Ohio/Harmony Community School). After missing the first attempt, Anthony converted the second for the 83-82 lead with 4.7 seconds on the clock.
Following a JMU timeout, Moore pushed the ball up the court but had the lane cut off. He dished to Davis, whose long fadeaway attempt from the arc bounced off the rim at the buzzer.
Richmond put five players in double figures in a game that featured sharp shooting on both sides. The Spiders were 11-for-17 from the arc (64.7 percent) while the Dukes were 8-for-13 (61.5 percent), 8-for-11 entering overtime. Both teams finished over 52 percent overall from the floor.
Guard Cedrick Lindsay had a double-double with 13 points and 11 assists for the visiting Spiders. Forward Derrick Williams had 17 points and seven rebounds while Darien Brothers added a team-high 18 points. Anthony and Greg Robbins added 11 and 10 points, respectively.
Moore finished with a team-high 19 points for JMU to go with five rebounds, five assists and four steals. His layup at the 3:06 mark of the first half made him the 26th player in JMU history to surpass 1,000 points, and he moved into the top 25 all-time with 1,016.
Three other Dukes reached double figures with senior forward Andrey Semenov (St. Petersburg, Russia/Blue Ridge School) posting 18 before fouling out late in regulation. Davis added 13 points while freshman guard Ron Curry (Pennsauken, N.J./Paul VI) tallied a career high with 12.
After JMU led for much of the first half, Richmond took charge following a 30-30 tie at the intermission. For the second time in the game, the Spiders got hot from the arc, hitting four treys over a three-minute stretch to turn a 48-45 deficit into a 59-51 lead, their largest of the game.
The Dukes responded with a three by Davis, a layup by Moore and a deep transition three by Semenov to quickly make it a one-point game at 60-59, Richmond. The Spiders built the margin to six at 66-60 with 2:59 to go when JMU made its final push.
JMU cut the deficit quickly with Semenov hitting a pair of free throws and a steal by Moore leading to a three-point play by Curry to make it 66-65 within a span of 30 seconds. After a pair of Richmond free throws, freshman guard Andre Nation (Plant City, Fla./Faith Baptist Christian) hit a jumper to keep it a one-point game.
Then after a missed front end of bonus opportunity for the Spiders, Nation went 1-for-2 at the foul line to tie the game at 68-68 with 1:43 to go. Davis stole Richmond’s rebound of the second attempt and hit two free throws of his own to give the Dukes a 70-68 lead.
The back-and-forth play continued with Richmond taking a 71-70 lead after a pair of turns at the charity stripe to make it 71-70 with 44 seconds remaining. Following a timeout, JMU drew up a play that found Curry open to swish a three for a 73-71 advantage with 29.9 seconds on the clock.
On the final possession, Richmond ran the clock down and had Lindsay drive through the right side of the paint. Semenov was whistled for his fifth and disqualifying foul with three seconds left. Lindsay hit both shots to tie the game at 73-73. Moore’s half-court heave rimmed out to send the game to overtime.
JMU led the rebounding battle for the third straight game at 26-24 with 11 offensive rebounds leading to a 12-3 advantage in second-chance points. The Spiders assisted 19 of their 26 made field goals and went 14-for-21 (67 percent) from the floor in the second half, an impressive number that was topped by JMU’s 70.6 percent (12-for-17) showing in the period.
For the second straight game, JMU got off to a quick start with a 9-4 lead by first media timeout at the 15:20 mark. The Dukes built the lead further to as many as 11 points at 19-8 on a Semenov three-point play with 11:35 to go.
JMU led 21-10 when UR started to crawl back. The Spiders held the Dukes off the scoreboard for 4:22 as part of a modest 6-0 burst. Davis stopped the small run with an emphatic parting of the lane and slam over a UR defender.
However, the Spiders kept the momentum and connected on four three-point field goals in less than two and a half minutes to charge ahead 30-27 at 2:47. JMU managed to stop the run and senior Alioune Diouf (Powder Springs, Ga./McEachern) hit a three form the left baseline with 36 seconds left to take a 30-30 tie into the break.
The teams combined to go 8-for-11 from the arc in the half, including 5-for-7 by the Spiders, who shot 50 percent overall (10-for-20) after a slow start. JMU led the first half in rebounds 15-11 and held a 10-2 advantage in points off turnovers.
Semenov had eight points to lead JMU in the half. Brothers and Sparrow each had eight while Lindsay had eight first-half assists.
JMU concludes its five-game home stretch following a one-week hiatus for final exams. The Dukes return to the Convo on Sunday, Dec. 16 to host UNCG in a 2 p.m. contest.
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