February 21, 2009 by Patrick Gill | A10CollegeHoops

RICHMOND, VA — The Richmond Spiders rode Kevin Anderson’s 15 second half points and stifling defense to a  victory over the Charlotte 49ERS on Saturday night at the Robins Center. Following a mediocre first half Richmond (6-6 A-10, 14-13) dominated Charlotte in the second half to continue their recent surge.

For the first twenty minutes of the contest it seemed Charlotte had solved their season long quandary of playing away from home. Despite their 2-10 mark away from the friendly confines of Halton Arena the 49ERS were clicking on all cylinders going into intermission. Their best player Lamont Mack seemed unstoppable, they were 6-11 from beyond the arc, and possessed a four point advantage.

However, in the second half the road demons that have possessed Charlotte all season returned. The Spiders active match-up zone flustered the 49ers from the outset of the period. Following a Charlie Coley dunk that gave Charlotte a 41-38 lead the 49ers would only score two points the next seven minutes.  “They have good size overall in their zone. They do good job of getting to shooters,” Charlotte head man Bobby Lutz said of the Spiders.

During the pivotal stretch the home team used two Anderson steals, a gravity defying block by Cedric Francis Martel and Ryan Butler’s lockdown defense to stake their claim to a 49-43 advantage with 8:14 remaining. Butler had 4 second half blocks but Richmond Head Coach Chris Mooney believed his diving steal with 12:57 remaining was the turning point in the contest. “The play of the game was when Ryan Butler dove on ground at half court and threw it ahead to Kevin Anderson.”

The Spiders would never trail again but needed several big plays by Anderson to repel the resilient 49ERs. With Richmond clinging to a two point lead with 3:34 remaining the sophomore point guard hit a three from the top of the key and then connected on four straight foul shots to put Charlotte out of their misery.

Richmond has responded from a midseason slump by winning 3 of their last 4 games with the only blemish being a close loss at Dayton. Ryan Butler believes the combination of a favorable schedule and a young team hitting their stride bode well for the Spiders as they approach the stretch run. “Hopefully we can win out and get a good seed in the A-10 tournament. We just want to continue to get chances to show teams we can play.”