National Basketball Association
BOXSCORE | RECAP
Richmond 71, Alabama 64
When: 9:15 PM ET, Tuesday, March 14, 2017
Where: Coleman Coliseum, Tuscaloosa, Alabama
Officials: # Ron Groover, # AJ Desai, # Tony Henderson
Attendance: 4041

Senior guard ShawnDre' Jones scored 22 points, and hot-shooting Richmond beat Alabama 71-64 Tuesday in the first round of the NIT at Coleman Coliseum in Tuscaloosa, Ala.

The Spiders (21-12) advance to face Oakland (25-8) in the second round. The Golden Grizzlies, who erased a 20-point deficit in the second half to defeat Clemson, will travel to Richmond for the second round.

Senior guard Corban Collins led Alabama with 19 points, including a 3-pointer from the corner that cut the Richmond lead to 67-64 with 29.7 seconds to play. However, the Spiders' T.J. Cline hit a pair of free throws and Khwan Fore threw down an alley-oop dunk to seal the win for Richmond.

Alabama's Dazon Ingram tied the game at 61-61 with five minutes to play on a layup along the baseline, but the Crimson Tide (19-15) didn't score again until Collins' 3-pointer. Ingram finished with 11 points.

Richmond led 36-32 at halftime behind 14 points from De'Monte Buckingham and 12 points from Jones. The Spiders shot 53 percent from the field and forced Alabama into eight first-half turnovers.

For the game, Richmond shot a 53.8 percent from the floor and made seven 3-pointers.

Alabama stayed close, thanks in part to a 31-23 overall rebounding edge, but the Crimson Tide just couldn't come up with enough offense, something that plagued them throughout the season. Ingram and Collins were the only two Alabama players to reach double figures in points.

Cline finished with 15 points and Fore had 11 points for the Spiders, who reached the Atlanta 10 tournament semifinals before losing in overtime to Virginia Commonwealth.

Alabama reached the semifinals of the Southeastern Conference tournament before losing to eventual champion Kentucky.
Top Game Performances
 
Richmond   Alabama
ShawnDre' Jones 22 Scoring Corban Collins 19
Khwan Fore 4 Assists Dazon Ingram 6
T.J. Cline 6 Rebounds Bola Olaniyan 7
Khwan Fore 3 Free Throws Made Corban Collins 4
De'Monte Buckingham 4 Steals Donta Hall 1
N/A Blocks Dazon Ingram 1
Team Stats Summary
 
Team Points FG% 3PM-3PA FTM-FTA Assists Rebounds Blocks Steals Turnovers
Richmond 71 53.8 7-18 8-11 10 23 0 7 12
Alabama 64 41.7 7-24 7-7 13 31 2 2 16