Nov. 9, 2012
Nine A-10 teams opened the 20120-13 season Friday night, providing the A-10 with a 6-3 finish on day one:
Xavier 117, Fairleigh Dickinson 75
CINCINNATI (AP) - Dee Davis had a career-high 15 assists on Friday night and Xavier scored 68 points in the opening half of a 117-75 victory over short-handed Fairleigh Dickinson in their season opener.
Xavier put together the second-best opening half in its history. The Musketeers scored 72 in the first half of a 122-95 win over Florida International on Feb. 24, 1988, the school record for points in a game.
The Musketeers finished with their most points since a 118-113 win over Loyola Marymount on Jan. 4, 1989.
Davis had his first career double-double at point guard, where he's taking over for Tu Holloway. He had a dozen assists in the first half alone, matching the school record for a sophomore. Davis finished with 22 points and 15 assists, tied for second-most in school history.
Lonnie Robinson scored 20 for Fairleigh Dickinson, which left four players at home for discipline.
Richmond 84, Liberty 42
RICHMOND, Va. - The University of Richmond Spiders men's basketball team began its 100th season in impressive fashion on Friday night, dismantling Liberty, 84-42, at the Robins Center. The victory marked Richmond's (1-0) 13th-straight season-opening win.
Senior Darien Brothers led three players in double-figures with a game-high 19 points on 7-of-10 shooting from the floor, including 4-of-5 from beyond the arc. Junior Cedrick Lindsay had 12 points, while sophomore Kendall Anthony scored 11 and dished out four assists.
The Spiders took early control of the game on Friday night, as Brothers led Richmond in a 12-0 run to open the contest, hitting a pair of 3-pointers. The Richmond defense was too much for the Flames to handle early, as Liberty didn't score its first bucket till the 14:01 mark.
VCU 80, Florida Gulf Coast 57
Havoc was on display right away as VCU opened its 2012-13 campaign with an 80-57 victory over Florida Gulf Coast in front of the 19th consecutive sellout at the Siegel Center. Sophomore Briante Weber highlighted the Rams' defensive prowess with a school-record 10 steals to go along with a career-high tying 13 points. Classmate Treveon Graham led VCU in scoring with 15 points and seven rebounds.
Weber set a school-record with his 10 steals, breaking the old record of seven, which was achieved by six different players in school history. The last Ram to notch seven steals was Joey Rodriguez in 2008.
As a team, VCU tied the single-game record with 20 steals, which they set last year in a home victory over UNC Wilmington.
The win was the 26th straight victory for the Black & Gold when they score 65 points or more.
St. Bonaventure 65, Bethune-Cookman 55
ST. BONAVENTURE, N.Y. (AP) - Demitrius Conger netted 12 points and pulled down seven rebounds as
St. Bonaventure toppled Bethune-Cookman 65-55 in a nonconference affair in each team's season opener Friday night.
After letting the Wildcats cut a 29-25 halftime lead to 33-32, Conger and Matthew Wright hit back-to-back 3-pointers and Wright and Eric Mosley made layups to stretch St. Bonaventure's lead to 43-32.
After that, Bethune-Cookman only threatened briefly, cutting the Bonnies' lead to 55-49 with 2:25 to play. But a 3-pointer and a free throw by Mosley and then a dunk by Conger stifled Bethune-Cookman's charge.
St. Bonaventure scored 21 points off turnovers to Bethune-Cookman's 5.
Prior to the game, St. Bonaventure raised banners honoring the team's first Atlantic 10 championship and its NCAA Tournament Second Round appearance from a year ago.
The Bonnies are now 33-0 in season openers hosted at the Reilly Center.
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Bethune-Cookman was 11-for-11 from the free throw line.
Charlotte 68, Charleston Southern 58CHARLOTTE, N.C. (AP) - Sophomore guard Terrence Williams had a career-high 19 points and 10 rebounds as Charlotte defeated Charleston Southern 68-58 Friday night despite playing without their top two scorers.
Charlotte coach Alan Major announced before the game that senior forward Chris Braswell has been suspended for one game and junior guard DeMario Mayfield for two games for violating team rules. Major did not specify what team rules were broken.
Williams took on the scoring load with 17 of his points coming in the second half, including seven straight during a crucial stretch in which the 49ers pushed their lead back to 15 after Charleston Southern made a run to cut it to seven.
Pierria Henry added 10 points and five steals for the 49ers, while E. Victor Nickerson had 11 points and five rebounds.
Saah Nimley led the Buccaneers with 20 points and Arion Harper added 12 points off the bench.
Saint Louis 76, SC-Upstate 59ST. LOUIS (AP) - Dwayne Evans scored 21 points and grabbed eight rebounds, both game highs, and Saint Louis won its season opener, defeating South Carolina-Upstate 76-59 Friday night.
Cody Ellis had 15 points for the Billikens, while Jordair Jett had 14 points and five assists. Mike McCall Jr. scored 12 points for Saint Louis in a game that is part of the CBE Hall of Fame Classic.
Fred Miller had 11 points to lead the Spartans. Torrey Craig and Ty Greene scored 10 points each for South Carolina-Upstate.
Jim Crews is coaching the Billikens this season. Rick Majerus, who guided Saint Louis to a 26-8 record and a third-round appearance in the NCAA tournament, is taking a leave of absence for health reasons.
Albany (NY) 69, Duquesne 66
ALBANY, N.Y. (AP) - John Puk scored a career-high 14 points, including a key dunk with 47 seconds left, and Albany beat Duquesne 69-66 Friday night in each team's season opener.
Puk's dunk extended the Great Danes' lead to 69-65, and though a Derrick Colter free throw pulled Duquesne back within a possession, the Dukes could not close the gap. Puk added eight rebounds to his stat line in 17 minutes of play. The lead changed hands eight times in the second half, with Albany taking the final lead on Mike Black's 3-pointer with 2:14 to play. Black led the Great Danes with 15 points and four assists.
The season-opening win is the first for Albany since 2006-07, the last time it appeared in the NCAA tournament.
Colter, a freshman making his debut, finished with 17 points, and classmate Quevyn Winters had 15 points and 11 rebounds in his first game.
Texas St. 86, Fordham 76
SAN MARCOS, Texas (AP) - Joel Wright had 19 points and 12 rebounds as Texas State defeated Fordham 86-76 Friday night in the season opener for both schools.
Matt Staff and Corey Stern added 17 and 16 points, respectively, for the Bobcats while grabbing nine rebounds apiece.
Chris Gaston led Fordham with 19 points and 14 rebounds. Branden Frazier added 18 points and Bryan Smith had 16.
Texas State closed the first half on a 10-3 run to go up 41-34 at the break, and led 61-44 when Reid Koenen hit a 3-pointer with 11:55 remaining.
The Rams answered with a 16-4 run that included two 3-pointers and a layup from Smith to pull within 65-60 with 6:46 left. That was as close as they got, however, as the Bobcats pulled away and hit 8 of 10 free throws in the final 1:02.
Norfolk St. 67, Rhode Island 55
KINGSTON, R.I. (AP) - Jamel Fuentes came off the bench to score 10 of his 11 points in the second half as Norfolk State came back to defeat Rhode Island 67-55 Friday night in both teams' season opener.
Fuentes, a junior guard, sank a 3-pointer just 4 seconds into the second half to cut the Spartans' deficit to 30-28.
After the Rams came back to lead 47-42 with 9:23 remaining on a three-point play by Nikola Malesevic, Fuentes took charge. He made a three-point play of his own, then stole the ball and tied the game with a jumper. His layup with 8:57 to play put the Spartans in front 49-47, and they never relinquished the lead.
Brandon Goode had 13 points and 13 rebounds for the Spartans, who went 26-10 last season and beat Missouri in the NCAA tournament before losing to Florida.
Malesevic had 26 points and nine rebounds for Rhode Island.
