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Richmond upends Vanderbilt in 12 v 5 upset

Mar 17, 2011 - 11:58 PM Denver, CO (Sports Network) - Kevin Anderson dropped 25 points, including a key jumper and free throw inside the final minute, as Richmond held on to defeat Vanderbilt to complete the NCAA Tournament's yearly 12-5 upset, 69-66.

Justin Harper posted 13 points and Francis-Cedric Martel added 12 for the 12th-seeded Spiders (28-7), who have won eight straight games, including winning the A-10 Tournament.

Richmond will face Morehead State in a surprise 12-13 battle Saturday in Southwest Region third-round action.

"You know, you kind of get caught up in making it back here to the NCAA Tournament," Harper said of the Spiders making their second straight appearance. "We were kind of excited about it last year. This year we're here to handle business, just really focused on making it past the [second] round."

John Jenkins and Festus Ezeli each posted 21 points for the fifth-seeded Commodores (23-11), who got 10 points from Brad Tinsley.

In a close second half, this one came down to the final minute in true March Madness fashion.

Lance Goulbourne made just 1-of-2 from the free throw line with 50 seconds left to get Vanderbilt within one, 66-65.

Anderson, though responded with his biggest shot of the game when he drove just right of the lane and pulled up for a teardrop fadeaway shot with 20.1 seconds left on the clock. The Spiders could not wrap up the game from the free throw line, though, as Darrius Garrett missed the front end of a 1-and-1 with five ticks left.

Ezeli then made just 1-of-2 from the line, and yet again, poor free throw shooting kept Vandy in it with three seconds left after Anderson only drained one free throw.

Down 69-66, the Commodores had one last chance to tie the game, but Rod Odom's shot was no where close to the basket.

"We missed some really critical free throws where we had a chance to either take the lead or get the game tied," Vandy head coach Kevin Stallings said. "These games are going to be close. Those are your margins for victory."

Richmond opened the second half with Darien Brothers' three-pointer to knot it at 35. But the Commodores created some space going up by nine with 16 minutes left to play. However, a few minutes later Anderson drained three straight treys in a 12-0 run by the Spiders to go up 51-48.

Anderson's jumper with three minutes remaining put Richmond up 66-63 and Goulbourne hit 1-of-2 from the line with 2:07 left.

Vandy had a good start, going in front 12-5 a little less than six minutes in. Ezeli's jumper with five minutes to go pushed the lead to 31-20, however, Richmond scored the next eight points to make it a battle.

Cedrick Lindsay's trey ended the burst for a 31-28 game with 3:11 left in the half. Ezeli's putback lay in and two free throws extended the Commodores' lead to 35-30. Harper, though, drilled a mid-range jumper to make up the 35-32 score at the half.

Game Notes

Vanderbilt still leads the series 2-1...Richmond has posted a 7-8 record in eight all-time NCAA appearances. The Spiders are the only team in tourney history to post wins as a No. 12, 13, 14 and 15 seed...Richmond made just 5- of-12 from the free throw line and shot 46.4 from the field...Vanderbilt made 50 percent of its shots.