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March 7, 2009 | AP Press

RICHMOND, Va. — Kevin Anderson scored a career-high 29 points to lead Richmond to an 80-75 upset of No. 17 Xavier Saturday.

Justin Harper had 20 points for the Spiders (17-14, 9-7 Atlantic 10), who shot 50.9 percent and were 19-of-23 from the line. Jarhon Giddings added 12 points.

Derrick Brown had 16 points for Xavier (24-6, 12-4), which cut the lead to 75-73 with 1:21 remaining on Terrell Holloway’s short jumper in the lane to cap a 20-7 run.

Richmond hung on to beat a ranked team at the Robins Center for the seventh time in 37 years and first since last season against Dayton. Spiders scoring leader David Gonzalves was held to eight points.

After Holloway missed a pair of free throws, Anderson sunk a pair with 29 seconds left for a 78-73 lead. Brown cut it to 78-75 with 17.8 seconds left on two more.

After Richmond’s Francis Cedric Martel missed the front end of a one-and one, B.J. Raymond and Dante Jackson missed 3-pointers.

Harper rebounded and hit two free throws with 1.3 seconds left.