There never could be two Cinderellas. One had to go.
And despite an inspired – and inspiring – effort in the second round Thursday, the 13th-seeded Morehead State Eagles on Saturday night could not duplicate the gritty, savvy play of its shocking win over Louisville and fell 65-48 to 12th seeded Richmond at the Pepsi Center.
The Spiders advance to the NCAA’s Sweet 16 round next weekend.
The game boiled down to this: Richmond was just a better team. Sometimes, it’s as simple as that.
Richmond didn’t play particularly well, and that was in part due to some scrappiness on Morehead State’s part, but in the end had too many weapons for the Eagles to handle.
“A lot of teams get (worked up) about where they’re seeded,” Richmond coach Chris Mooney said. “The most important thing is to go out and play each individual game. … We worked really hard to get here.”
Justin Harper scored 19 points to lead the Spiders, and Kevin Anderson chipped in 14 points.
The game-plan against Morehead State star Kenneth Faried was basic and effective – double-team him, cut off his closest passing options and keep big bodies on him. It worked.
Faried had 17 rebounds against Louisville. He worked hard to finish with 13 against Richmond, and added a team-leading 11 points. Sam Goodman also scored 11 points for the Eagles.
The game never got completely out-of-hand, but it was never truly within Morehead State’s grasp. Timely buckets kept the Eagles in contact, but they were never able to put together a meaningful enough run to make things close. Richmond separated itself a bit at the end of the game.
Richmond got contributions from all over the court. Center Dan Geriot, who did not score in the Spiders’ second-round win over Vanderbilt, cashed in a myriad of mid-range jump shots and finished with 13 points. Darien Brothers provided ball handling and 3-point punch. He was 2-for-2 from the arc.
The teams combined to shoot 3-of-13 to start but Richmond got things rolling after the score was tied at four.
The Spiders sprinted out on a 10-0 run to give them a 14-4 lead. Morehead State didn’t score in 4:19 as Richmond mixed-up defenses, which kept the Eagles off-balance enough for it to carve out a nice lead. All it took from then on out was maintenance. Richmond took care of that, and now moves on.
Chris Dempsey: 303-954-1279 or cdempsey@denverpost.com
