Game of the Night
Davidson Wildcats 78, Richmond Spiders 70
Davidson (12-6, 4-3 A 10) led for almost all 40 minutes when it went on the road to do battle with Richmond (10-8, 2-4 A 10). After grabbing a 17-4 lead early in the first half, it looked as if the Wildcats would run away with it, but the Spiders slowly began chipping away at Davidson’s double digit lead. Richmond would go on to lead for the first time at the 11 minute mark 46-45, but the Wildcats quickly grabbed that lead back and finished the game strong to get their fourth win in conference play.
The Wildcats prevailed on Monday night thanks to a career-high 34 points from Peyton Aldridge. His previous career best was 25 as a freshman against North Carolina. Aldridge proved that the Wildcats have dangerous scoring options outside of Jack Gibbs; Peyton Aldridge shot 11-15 from the field, 11-13 from the free throw line, and he also pulled down 7 rebounds. Jack Gibbs has 11 points on the night, his lowest scoring performance in conference play this season. Brian Sullivan also had 11 for the Wildcats.
Richmond was led by Terry Allen who had 23 points on 8-18 shooting from the floor. He also pulled down a team-high 8 rebounds. The senior Allen has not scored in single digits all season. T.J. Cline and Shawndre’ Jones also had good scoring contributions with 18 and 16, and Khwan Fore had 11 off the bench, but that was about it for the Spiders. Those 4 players combined for 68 of Richmond’s 70 points. Trey Davis, Marshall Wood, and Deion Taylor combined for just two points on the night.
Davidson has to be particularly pleased, not only because it got a road win, but because it proved that it can win without Jack Gibbs doing absolutely everything. Peyton Aldridge really stepped up to help the Wildcats come away with one of their best wins this season. The Wildcats were 22-56 from the floor (44.6%) and 21-24 (87.5%) from the line. Davidson will have a tough home contest against VCU on Friday.
Richmond has to be particularly concerned with its recent performances. The Spiders shot 0-15 from the floor against Davidson; this is a team that knocked down 13 triples a couple of week ago against Fordham. The Spiders have to be wondering what the heck happened to that. Richmond has now lost its last two games, and things won’t get much easier when it has to visit George Washington this Thursday.
