Richards Leads Comeback at Georgia Southern with 32 Points
1/23/2007 10:18:31 AM | Men's Basketball
Joey Beeler
Recap | Box Score
STATESBORO, Ga. -- After trailing 55-46 at the half on the road at Georgia Southern, the Davidson men's basketball team turned that deficit into a nine-point win, 101-92, on Tuesday evening at Hanner Fieldhouse. Junior point guard Jason Richards scored 20 of his career-high 32 points in the first half to help the Wildcats improve to 17-4 on the season and a Southern Conference-best 8-1 in league play. The Eagles dipped below .500 with the loss to 9-10 overall and 2-6 in the SoCon.
A native of Barrington, Ill., Richards led five Wildcats in double digits going 8-of-13 from the field, including four three-pointers, while missing just two of his 14 free throws. Along with scoring in double figures for the 10th consecutive outing, the SoCon's leader in assists per game set up nine other Davidson buckets.
Following a four-point performance in the first half, Davidson's Stephen Curry torched the Eagles for 19 points in the final period to finish with 23 points. To go along with a Wildcat backcourt that combined for 55 points, Davidson's frontcourt of Thomas Sander and Boris Meno contributed 19 and 11 points respectively, while William Archambault added 11.
Davidson began the second frame on a 7-2 run and continued to chip away at a deficit that they finally erased on a Curry three-pointer that gave them a 66-65 advantage with 11:24 to play. Over the next 6:25 the two teams traded baskets and leads to find themselves deadlocked at 81-81.
The Eagles went ahead 82-81 on a Donte Gennie free throw, but that's the last time they would lead as a Meno jumper in the lane sparked a 14-3 Wildcat flurry that put the game out of reach. To go along with its run, Davidson held its opponent to just one field goal over the final 6:10 of the affair.
After both teams started the game lights out, Davidson was the only to continue its hot-shooting in the closing half as it finished 50.8 percent overall, while holding the Eagles to a second period total of 36.7 percent. The Wildcats were even more impressive from three-point range adding five to their first half total to conclude 14-of-27 (51.9 percent).
Davidson opened with a 9-7 advantage following three straight treys from Sander, but the Eagles responded in a hurry with 12 points unanswered to grab a lead that was maintained the entire period as they went to the break up, 55-46.
The Wildcats kept the game in reach thanks to Richards, who scored 16 consecutive for his club during a four minute stretch. The 6-2 point guard missed just two of his seven attempts from the floor, made all three of his tries from downtown and was 7-of-8 from the charity stripe in the stanza.
Both clubs shot identical numbers from the floor (.500) and from long range (.600) in the first 20 minutes of action. Ranked in the Top-10 nationally in three-pointers per game, the Wildcats matched their average in the half going 9-for-14.
Louis Graham led four Georgia Southern players in double figures with 26 points, 17 of which came before intermission. The Eagle forward and Preseason All-Conference selection hit 9-of-13 attempts from the field and 8-of-11 tries from the line. Others with at least 10 points for GSU were Gennie and Jimmy Tobias with 19 each, while Dwayne Foreman scored 11 points and dished out a game-high 11 assists.
The two teams finished tied on the glass with 40 rebounds each.
With the victory, Wildcat head coach Bob McKillop is just one win shy of his 300th career win. The all-time winningest coach in Davidson and Southern Conference history sits at 299-217 in 18 years at the helm.
Davidson returns home to Belk Arena for a 7 p.m. tip-off with league foe Western Carolina Saturday. The Eagles will be in action at the same time as they travel to battle the Elon Phoenix Jan. 27.
