March 3, 2009 by Jordan Keyser | A10CollegeHoops

CHARLOTTE, NC — Richmond’s Kevin Anderson sliced down the lane and hit a contorting lay-up with 8 seconds to play to win the game for the Spiders, 64-62.

Lamont Mack had a career night for the 49ers, with a career high 32 points, as well as a career high 14 rebounds. Despite his stellar performance, Mack was obviously not satisfied with the outcome. Mack had a chance at a game winning three-pointer, but the shot rimmed out at the buzzer.

“I definitely had a good look. It just didn’t go in.” Mack said dejectedly. “It hurts. Me and Charlie wanted to go out on a win on senior night and we really wanted to get coach his 200th win (at Charlotte.)”

The game once again pitted two of the A-10’s best point guards against each other, with Richmond’s Anderson and Charlotte’s Dijuan Harris. In a reversal of Charlotte’s last game against Fordham, Harris was the one who was outplayed on both sides of the ball this time. Harris, who was 4th in the country in assists coming into this game, managed only 4 the entire game, as well as only 4 points. Anderson led the way for Richmond with 24 points and tacked on 6 rebounds.

According to 49er head coach Bobby Lutz, Anderson was the difference.

“We had no answer for Anderson tonight, that’s what it came down to. No matter what we did, no matter what adjustments we made, we couldn’t stop him. He was the difference tonight.”

Despite Anderson’s great guard play, it was a poor ball-handling night for both teams, with both squads having more turnovers than assists. In spite of the loss, Charlotte managed one of their best rebounding games of the season, with +14 ratio over Richmond, as well as a +10 ratio on the offensive boards.

With the loss, Charlotte falls to 11-18 overall and 5-10 in the conference. Their loss puts a trip to Atlantic City for the A-10 Conference Tournament in jeopardy. Their final game of the season is at St. Bonaventure on Saturday. Their postseason hopes, as well as St. Bonaventure’s, most likely will be determined by the outcome of the game.

Richmond closes their season out at home against 18th ranked Xavier on Saturday.