BROOKLYN, NY – Terry Allen scored 27 points and Kendall Anthony added 23 to lead No. 7 seed Richmond to a 76-64 win over No. 10 Duquesne in the first round of the Atlantic 10 Championship.
Richmond (19-13) moves on to face No. 2 seed #23 (AP) ranked VCU (24-7) Friday at 6:30 p.m.
Duquesne, which was led by Ovie Soko’s 23 points and 13 rebounds, finished its season at 13-17.
Richmond scored the first nine points of the second half to open up a 15-point lead before Soko scored DU’s first field goal at the 16:06 mark.
Duquesne continued to struggle as the UR lead reached 19 on an Anthony 3-pointer with 10:26 left.
The Spiders led 63-42 with 6:24remaining before a Derrick Colter 3-pointer started a 17-5 run that saw the Dukes pull to within 68-59 on a Soko 3-pointer with 1:26 remaining.
Richmond scored six of its final eight points from the foul line to maintain a double-digit lead for the final 1:19.
The Spiders, who outshot the Dukes .463 to .422, outscored DU 18-4 from the foul line.
“We only got eight free throws on the game, and they got 26 and we got outrebounded” said Duquesne coachJim Ferry. “When we win games, we usually dominate those two areas.”
Dominique McKoy and L.G. Gill scored 10 points apiece for Duquesne.
Richmond held starters Jeremiah Jonesand Micah Mason scoreless on 0-of-5 combined shooting.
“You have to credit them defensively for locking in on him [Mason],” said Ferry. “They funneled us to the inside. Micah passed the ball well today, but we needed him to score and he really didn’t have any open looks. He’s a good basketball player and he’s not going to force shots. Ovie and Domo [Dominique McKoy] scored for us interior-wise, but we really lacked that third and fourth scorer tonight.”
Richmond hit four early 3-pointers in jumping out to a 19-7 lead as the Dukes hit just three of their first 12 shots. A pair of 3-pointers by Gill and a third by Colter helped Duquesne cut it to five with just under five minutes to go.
Trey Davis hit a pair of free throws with 2.7 seconds left to make it 32-26 at the half.
Allen had 13 in the first 20 minutes for Richmond.
“This was a resilient group,” said Ferry. “It takes time to rebuild a program, I’ve done it before. When you’re in such a monster of a league it takes some time, because there are some great players and great coaches. You need multiple recruiting classes.
“It took us a little while to get going, but by the end of the year we were playing pretty good basketball. Prior to tonight, I thought we were playing some of the best basketball in this league. We played close to UMass, we could have one that game. We beat Saint Louis and went on the road and beat George Mason in what was a big game. I think the experience of being able to grind it at the end of the year and make a run and finish in 10th in a great league is an accomplishment for a young group. We just have to be able to build on that with recruiting classes, maturity and growth.”
Article by David Saba, courtesy of Duquesne Athletics.
