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Explorers fall to Richmond, 78-76, in final seconds
RICHMOND, Va. - Richmond’s Derrick Williams scored on a put-back with 5.8 seconds left to propel the Spiders to a 78-76 victory over La Salle on Wednesday night at the Robins Center. Sophomore Tyreek Duren scored 17 points to lead the Explorers, while classmate Sam Mills added 16.
“I’m really disappointed we didn’t do a few things better,” head coach Dr. John Giannini said. “It was a heartbreaking loss.”
Williams was a beast underneath in the final minute, grabbing seven offensive boards and scoring the Spiders final five points. He finished with a career-high 22 points and 11 rebounds.
The Explorers trailed by five with seven minutes to play but a 6-1 run over the next three minutes, keyed by Duren’s five points, tied the game up for the fifth time with 4:02 to play.
Duren had a steal and fast-break layup 30 seconds later that gave the visitors a 73-71 lead with 3:36 to play, their first since the 13:54 mark in the second half.
Wayne Sparrow connected on a jumper with 3:17 left to tie the score and Williams corralled five straight offensive rebounds on one possession with 1:41 left before being fouled. He hit one free throw to put UR (13-12, 4-6 A-10) ahead 74-73.
Mills hit a clutch three-pointer with 1:13 remaining to put La Salle up 76-74 but Williams gathered another offensive board to tie the score just under a minute.
The Explorers couldn’t get a shot off in their final possession and Williams rebounded a Cedric Lindsay miss to score the go-ahead bucket.
Junior Ramon Galloway had 15 points, nine assists and seven rebounds, while freshman Jerrell Wright added 11 points.
Richmond’s Darien Brothers scored 13 points while Sparrow added 10 off the bench.
The Explorers made 10-for-17 from three-point range for 58.8% and lost for just the fourth time when making eight threes or more. Freshman D.J. Peterson made a pair of three’s to continue his torrid long-range shooting in A-10 play (12-for-16, 75%) for eight points.
The Blue and Gold led by 11 points at 32-21 with 6:06 to play before halftime but a quick Spider run tied the score three minutes later. The teams would not be separated by more than six points the rest of the way.
The Explorers held Richmond to 39.8% shooting from the field but were out-rebounded 45-27.
La Salle (17-8, 6-4 A-10) returns home on Saturday to host Saint Louis at 2 PM.
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