The AU men’s basketball team fell 66-56 in its season opener at the University of Richmond Nov. 11, after the Spiders outscored the Eagles 41-27 in the second half.
In the loss, Troy Brewer and Charles Hinkle each scored in double digits for the Eagles (0-1, 0-0 PL). Brewer scored a game-high 22 points while Hinkle poured in 20 to go along with a team-high seven rebounds. Point guard Daniel Munoz tallied nine assists in 31 minutes of play for AU.
Richmond freshman Kendall Anthony scored 20 points in his collegiate debut for the Spiders (1-0, 0-0 A10) and sophomore Cedrick Lindsay added 17 in the victory. Other scorers in double figures for the Spiders included Derrick Williams and Francis Martel, who registered 12 and 11 points, respectively.
The Eagles’ largest lead of the contest was nine, which came midway through the first half on Hinkle’s layup that put AU ahead 17-8.
Richmond then began to cut into the AU lead and trailed 29-25 heading into halftime.
Hinkle made a pair of free throws and a jumper early in the second half to keep AU ahead after the Eagles never trailed in the opening 20 minutes.
After Williams tied the game at 33 apiece, Brewer hit one of his six 3-pointers on the night to put AU ahead 36-33 with less than 15 minutes remaining.
But this AU advantage was short lived as the Spiders’ would gain their first lead of the game following an Anthony layup that put them up 38-36 with 12 minutes to play. Brewer responded with another 3-pointer at the 11:28 mark, and that would be the last time AU would lead in the game.
Trailing by six with over four minutes remaining, AU received a 3-pointer from Hinkle that cut the Richmond lead to 52-49. But the Spiders closed the contest on a 14-7 run for the 66-56 season-opening victory.
The Spiders held a significant advantage in terms of free throws, as Richmond attempted 33 free throws compared to AU’s 11. The Eagles also turned the ball over 15 times while Richmond totaled six turnovers. Richmond was able to capitalize off these AU miscues as the Spiders scored 22 points off turnovers.
AU began its 2011 campaign after losing four starters from last year’s 22-9 squad. Hinkle, Daniel Munoz, Tony Wroblicky and John Schoof joined Brewer in the starting lineup for the season opener.
Richmond held AU to a 33.3 shooting percentage from the field, while AU made ten 3-pointers on the night and out-rebounded the Spiders 39-34.
The Eagles will next travel to the University of Maryland Eastern Shore Nov. 14, before facing Florida Atlantic University Nov. 16 in their home opener at Bender Arena.
