No. 10 Demon Deacons squeak by Spiders

On a night in which the University of Richmond faithful focused its attention on the Spiders' football team, underdog UR nearly stunned 10th-ranked Wake Forest in a surprising slugfest at the Robins Center.

The Spiders, buoyed by a swarming defense, made the unbeaten Demon Deacons sweat it out last night before cooling down midway through the second half.

Wake Forest, with guard Jeff Teague and center Chas McFarland combining for 41 points and 22 rebounds, countered an early second-half surge by the Spiders to push its record to 10-0 with an 86-79 victory before an evenly divided crowd of 6,635.

The Demon Deacons seemed to be disinterested for much of the first half. They rushed to a 14-point lead, partly because Richmond (5-5) couldn't make a shot around the basket. But like a sprinter in a distance race, Wake Forest ran out of gas near the end of the half and led just 37-35 at the break.

"It was a little more competitive than I thought it would be," Wake Forest coach Dino Gaudio said. "But, man, it was really hot in [the gym], and our guys felt it."

The Demon Deacons didn't really feel the heat until Richmond took its first lead early in the second half. David Gonzalvez, who 18 points on 8-for-15 shooting, made a 3-pointer with 17:11 remaining to give the Spiders a 41-40 lead.

While Gaudio was surprised at UR's effort, Gonzalvez expected the Spiders to stand tall against one of the Atlantic Coast Conference's powers.

"We talked about keeping calm," Gonzalvez said. "So, we weren't surprised we were in this situation.

"We've played tough against some good teams [including Syracuse]. They tie their shoes the same way we do."

The Spiders kept themselves within striking distance, in part, because Wake Forest often played as if its shoes were untied. The Demon Deacons were careless offensively (21 turnovers), and they had enough defensive lapses to bolster Richmond's confidence.

Wake Forest, though, leaned on its half-court game to seize the momentum. L.D. Williams banked in a layup and completed a 3-point play with a free throw to put the Demon Deacons ahead 43-41.

"When we took the lead, we couldn't hold it very long," Richmond coach Chris Mooney said. "Defensively, we couldn't sustain a more solid effort."

The Spiders' hopes of an upset began to slip away as Wake Forest shut them down in transition. The Demon Deacons outscored Richmond 17-10 to take a 63-53 lead on driving layup by Teague with 8:43 to go.

Just as Wake Forest appeared to switch to cruise control, the Spiders found another gear. The Spiders hurriedly chipped away at a 12-point deficit, 73-61, and narrowed the gap to 76-72 after Kevin Anderson rolled in a driving layup with 2:01 to play.

But the Spiders couldn't get any closer as Wake Forest kept them at bay from the foul line. The Demon Deacons sealed their win in the final minute as Al-Farouq Aminu (14 points) slammed after gathering in a cross-court bounce pass from James Johnson to leave Richmond with an 82-74 deficit with 42 seconds left.