Richmond Spiders vs Vanderbilt Commodores Match Player Stats On Dec 16, 2020

Richmond shot 72 percent from the field in the first half and seized a 24-point halftime lead en route to a 78-67 non-conference win at Vanderbilt on Wednesday in Nashville, Tenn.

Four players scored in double figures for the Spiders (5-1), led by Blake Francis with 21 points and four assists. Grant Golden collected 14 points and eight rebounds, while Tyler Burton and Nathan Cayo each added 13 points.

Scotty Pippen, Jr., son of the former NBA great, pumped in a game-high 25 points for Vanderbilt (2-1), but was just 8 of 22 from the field.

Jordan Wright and Trey Thomas came off the bench to score 17 and 15, respectively, and Dylan Disu added 10 points. Three starters failed to score for the Commodores.

Richmond, which fell out of the Top 25 after an 87-71 loss Sunday at West Virginia, clearly was ready to play. The Spiders canned 58.8 percent of their shots from the field and converted 15 Commodore turnovers into 20 points.

Although Vanderbilt made the margin respectable in the second half, it was just 6 of 23 from the field in the first half. It finished the game at 40 percent, negating a 34-27 rebounding advantage.

Richmond won the game in the first half, leaving no doubt as to who had the better team. The Spiders took the lead just 17 seconds after tipoff on a Golden layup and kept carving up the Vanderbilt defense.

It was 15-5 less than 5 1/2 minutes into the game after Cayo converted a turnover into a layup, and the Commodores couldn't do anything to stop it. Another turnover became an Andre Gustavson layup that upped the margin to 20-5 with 12:56 left.

Vanderbilt didn't even reach 10 points until the 8:27 mark of the half, when Thomas made a jumper. But Richmond didn't let up, closing the half with consecutive layups off turnovers by Cayo and Connor Crabtree. That made it 45-21 at intermission.

--Field Level Media