Young stars surprise at halftime

When the Richmond Spiders men's basketball team played against conference foe Temple on Jan. 14, the story of the night shocked many fans in attendance. Just 10 days after upsetting Duke, Temple came to visit the Spiders in an Atlantic-10 battle that the Spiders needed to win to gain some momentum before heading into the bulk of their conference schedule.

The Spiders pulled off the win in front of a raucous Robins Center crowd, topping the Owls 76-65. Junior guard Darien Brothers led the Spiders with 19 points, going four of eight from beyond the 3-point line. Guards Cedrick Lindsey and Kendall Anthony contributed 11 and 15 points respectively with forward Derrick Williams chipping in 18 more from the inside.

Though the Spiders followed up the Temple victory with tough losses to George Washington and Massachusetts, the win certainly gave them some confidence and it proved to them they could play with the top teams in the A-10. However, this was not the only thing people were talking about after watching the game.

The halftime show was composed of two parts. The part that was supposed to be the main draw for the crowd was a dance performance put on by a group of performers that have been on national television. The other was a dance performance put on by a group of dancers ages 10 and below. Surprisingly, many people felt that the younger dancers put on a much better show.

"I just felt much more entertained by the moves they were doing and kind of how much fun they appeared to be having," sophomore Weston Sutter said. I kind of expected to be a little bit more impressed by a crew that had been on national television, but I was kind of underwhelmed."

"It wasn't so much that they were doing anything that was all that much more impressive," senior Mike Shrum said of the younger dancers' performance. "It was more that the crowd seemed to respond to their attitude better. They seemed to be having more fun than the older group and the crowd could tell."

When asked about why that might have been Shrum said: "I think it probably had to do with the fact that for the younger dancers, this was probably their Super Bowl. I don't know for sure but they seemed like they were more worried about putting on a great show. I guess for a squad that's been on national television, halftime of a Richmond Spiders game may not be the show they go all-in for."

Both the halftime show and the game provided fans with a lot to smile and talk about as they walked out of the Robins Center, which is hoped to continue to be the case throughout the rest of the season.

Contact staff writer Matt Dunn at matt.dunn@richmond.edu