Next game
Who: Dayton at Duquesne
When: 2 p.m. Sunday
Where: Palumbo Center
TV: None
Radio: WHIO-AM (1290), WHIO-FM (95.7)
DAYTON — Richmond’s Kevin Anderson made deep 3-pointers, darted to the basket for deuces and showed exquisite body control on a variety of spins and pull-up jumpers.
Dayton’s Paul Williams was often in perfect defensive position, but Anderson, the reigning Atlantic 10 player of the year, wasn’t going to be deterred by a hand in his face.
“When I was guarding him, he was playing with the ball a lot and gets you to fall asleep, and he’s got a quick release,” Williams said. “It seemed like he was hitting everything he threw up.”
Williams was beaten but unbowed, adding, “We’ll see him again.”
Anderson scored 18 of his team’s first 28 points and finished with 26 to lead the Spiders to a 70-61 win before 12,126 fans Tuesday, snapping UD’s eight-game home winning streak.
The Flyers led briefly early in the second half, but the Spiders (16-5, 5-1 A-10) controlled the game almost from start to finish.
“It seemed like they came out with a lot of pressure, and I just wanted to get my teammates calmed,” Anderson said. ”I scored early, so I saw I could do it. And I just wanted to continue scoring and show we can match their physicality and pressure.”
Chris Wright had 22 points and eight rebounds for UD (15-6, 3-3), while Josh Parker, starting in place of the flu-plagued Juwan Staten, scored 11.
Staten, the A-10 leader in assists, was vomiting Tuesday morning, and UD worked to hydrate him with IVs before the game. He showed up for warm-ups just a few minutes before the tip-off and played 21 ineffective minutes.
But the Spiders won for the first time in eight tries at UD Arena with crisp offense and spirited rebounding and because they had the sole player who could manufacture a shot anytime he wanted one.
“We played a team that on the 25th of January is better than us,” UD coach Brian Gregory said. “They have, I don’t want to say the best player in the league, but definitely one of the premier players — I don’t want to tick anyone off.
“He’s the reigning player of the year in our league. And he just made big play after big play.”
Contact this reporter at (937) 225-2125 or at dharris@DaytonDailyNews.com.
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