Minutemen untangle from web
Halt Spiders with late stops
AMHERST — UMass cooled off the hottest team in the Atlantic 10 Conference with a 70-65 comeback victory over the Richmond Spiders yesterday at the Mullins Center.
The Spiders showed up feeling confident after scoring wins over A-10 front-runners Charlotte and No. 16 ranked Virginia Commonwealth.
UMass won 2-of-3 on its homestand to improve to 13-5 overall and 3-2 in the conference. The Minutemen gained some needed positive reinforcement heading into a pair of key road tussles at La Salle and Charlotte this week. The Spiders dropped to 13-8 and 3-3 in the A-10.
“I thought that was a good win and that team just beat VCU, which was a top 20 team,” UMass coach Derek Kellogg said. “Put your seatbelts on because it’s going to be a fun ride this year with bumps up and down.
“If you are a college basketball fan this is a great time to be in the Mullins Center.”
Kellogg has increasingly relied on inside touches since losing shooting guard Jesse Morgan to a season-ending injury on Jan. 10. The Minutemen shot a solid 52.3 percent from the floor with a 38-20 points advantage in the paint. UMass owned the boards 32-23 and offset 13 turnovers with 16 assists.
Point guard Chaz Williams led UMass with 18 points and five assists while big men Sampson Carter and Cady LaLanne combined for 22 points and nine rebounds. Wayne Sparrow led the Spiders with 13 points off the bench.
“We wanted to go inside more and Cady had his best week of practice since he came here,” Kellogg said. “I thought we had size inside when they were using three and four guards.”
Richmond took its first lead (40-38) on a baseline trey by Cedrick Lindsay with 15:50 to play in the second half. The Minutemen spent the next 12plus minutes playing catch up against the Spiders’ disciplined offense.
Richmond took its biggest lead (6356) on a pair of free throws by freshman forward Alonzo Nelson-Ododa with 6:02 to play. But the Spiders would not score again until there were 16 seconds remaining. Meanwhile, UMass started the pivotal 11-0 run on a baseline 3-point shot by Williams with 5:53 left. “Stops, I think the key to everything was stops and defensive rebounding,” Carter said. “It was taking one stop at a time that made the biggest difference, that and defensive rebounding.”
Carter put UMass up 65-63 with 2:11 on the clock. Freddie Riley doubled the lead on a layup off a baseline feed from Williams with 27 seconds to play. Williams made 3-of-4 from the line to close out the contest. Kellogg called the late collaboration between Williams and Riley one of the biggest baskets of the season.
“When the ball first got inbounded I looked at Chaz and told him I was going backdoor,” said Riley. “We just communicated at the beginning of the possession and it ended up being a good play.”
Carter went on a low-post rampage as the Minutemen opened the game with a 12-3 run. He made two sweet power moves along the baseline and then closed the surge with a transition layup.
Kellogg employed a stubborn fullcourt press that decreased Richmond’s opportunities from its set offense. Richmond coach Chris Mooney called timeout to counter the move and the scheme worked. Sparrow led the Spiders on a 15-7 run that cut the lead to 19-18 with 9:16 to play.
Terrell Vinson busted the Richmond run with a spin move and a jump hook. UMass sank 5-of-6 free throws to go up 28-21 with 3:54 to play. Sparrow retaliated with consecutive long balls to make it a one-point game.
UMass closed the first half with a 6-2 run to take a 34-29 lead into the locker room.