Atlantic 10 First Round: Richmond Takes Down Duquesne, Moves on to Play VCU

The Richmond Spiders have dominated the Duquesne Dukes since coming to the Atlantic 10 over a decade ago. The Spiders are 16-1 against the Dukes since 2002 and won 75-58 in Pittsburgh earlier this year.

Despite the recent history of the Atlantic 10's seven seed, the Spiders came in limping after losing star point guard Cedrick Lindsay for the year and the departure of senior big man Derrick Williams. After taking down St. Bonaventure, Duquesne, and Fordham after losing those two the Spiders finished the season losing four out of their last five games.

Meanwhile, Duquesne was riding a wave of momentum after winning two of their last three including a huge upset over Saint Louis. The Dukes hot finished got them into this game as the tenth seed in the Atlantic 10 Tournament.

Richmond made the game look like it was going to be another dominant affair early as the Spiders shot off to a 19-10 lead at the under twelve media timeout thanks to some solid three point shooting and a slew of air balls from the Dukes.

In a twist of fate it was Richmond native and Duquesne freshman L.G. Gill seemed to wake the Dukes up with back-to-back threes. Gill along with Dominique McKoy, who had 8 points in the first half, helped to get the Dukes close at halftime with a 32-26 deficit. Richmond did hold Ovie Soki, the A10's leading scorer, to just 5 points in the first half and Micah Mason, the nation's top three point shooter, was 0-for-1 and scoreless.

Terry Allen had a particularly impressive first half for Richmond in the Spiders new four in-one out offense with 13 points, 7 rebounds, 2 assists, and 2 steals.

Richmond looked like that dominant team once again to start the second half when they opened the half on a 9-0 run and held the Dukes scoreless nearly the first four full minutes. Jim Ferry tried to throw everything at the Spiders after that run but to no avail. Richmond ran away with a 76-64 and will now face crosstown rival VCU tomorrow night in the Atlantic 10 quarterfinals.

Terry Allen finished the night with 27 points and star guard Kendall Anthony added 23 points in an 11-for-11 performance from the free throw line. UAB transfer and senior Ovie Soko had 23 points and 13 rebounds in his last game with the Dukes.