Just as Wayne Sparrow was emerging as one of the University of Richmond's key backcourt players, his season appears to have ended.
UR coach Chris Mooney said Sparrow broke his right hand during a first-half play in the Spiders' 69-67 loss Saturday to George Washington.
"He probably had his three best games here the last three," Mooney said of the 6-foot-3 redshirt freshman from Baltimore, who is right-handed. The Spiders (13-13, 4-7 Atlantic 10 Conference) have five regular-season games remaining. They play at Saint Louis (20-5, 8-3) on Wednesday.
In the first half vs. the Colonials, Sparrow scored seven, a continuation of the strong push he has recently supplied the Spiders. He scored a career-high 10 points with five rebounds in UR's win over La Salle in Richmond's previous game, and had seven points and five rebounds in a loss at Duquesne on Feb. 4. Sparrow's hustling defense lifted UR in all three games.
Late in the first half on Saturday, Sparrow dunked in transition following a block by Spider Darrius Garrett. Mooney said Sparrow broke his hand on the next play, "when he turned to run down court and got caught on one of (GW's) players."
Richmond now looks to 6-6 senior Francis-Cedric Martel and 6-5 junior Greg Robbins for production to make up for what's lost because of Sparrow's injury.
"I thought Francis played his best half of the year in the second half (vs. GW), and I think Greg has been very aggressive, making plays," said Mooney. "We're confident in those guys, and it's unfortunate more for the timing of (Sparrow's injury) because he had been playing so well recently."
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