Richmond Survives Against Maine; Plays No. 3 Memphis on

ESPNU Tuesday
Sophomore David Gonzalvez led the Spiders with 15 points

box score

MEMPHIS, Tenn. - The Richmond men's basketball team opened the 2007-08 season with a 44-42 victory over Maine in the first Division I college basketball game of the year Monday night in the 2k Sports College Hoops Classic at the FedExForum.

The Spiders advance to play No. 3 ranked Memphis on Tuesday at 9 p.m. ET on ESPNU, with the winner moving on to the 2k Sports College Hoops Classic on Nov. 15 at Madison Square Garden.

For a few hours the Spiders were the only team in the nation with a 1.000 winning percentage, until Memphis defeated UT-Martin 102-71 in the second game of the evening.

"It was a difficult game," Richmond head coach Chris Mooney said. "We shot so poorly, I felt we were anxious. I think my guys think we are pretty good and they were so anxious that we rushed some things and missed a lot of shots that I think we will normally make. We are certainly happy to get a win."

Sophomore David Gonzalvez made two clutch free throws with four seconds left to seal the win for the Spiders.

Gonzalvez led the Spiders with 15 points, 13 of them coming in the second half. The sophomore guard made 5-of-9 field goals, including 3-of-4 from behind the arc.

Senior Oumar Sylla scored nine points and junior Jarhon Giddings scored six. Freshman point guard Kevin Anderson had four points, four assists and three steals in 25 minutes of action.

Richmond led by as many as seven and never trailed by more than three, but the season opener came down to the final shot, a desperation heave by Maine's Mark Socoby that rimmed out.

In a sloppy game played in front of a sparse crowd in the cavernous 18,400-seat FedExForum, the Spiders committed 18 turnovers and shot just 33 percent from the floor. Richmond was out-rebounded 40-21, but did force 29 turnovers and had 14 fast-break points.

"This was more of a slow-down game, and we would definitely like to get the pace up a little bit," Mooney said. "We had 14 of our points in transition, and if we did not have those, we would have been done."