GAME NOTES: The Richmond Spiders seek their first road win of the season on Sunday as they clash with in-state rival James Madison at the Convocation Center.

The Spiders have split their first six outings of the campaign, winning three at home and coming up empty on the road. The squad did manage to snap a two- game slide on Wednesday night with a narrow 68-67 victory over William & Mary, yet another foe from the state of Virginia.

Meanwhile, the Dukes have won five of the last six outings since bowing to nationally-ranked Virginia by 28 points in the season opener. The lone setback during that stretch came at 16th-ranked Ohio State (73-56) a little over a week ago. James Madison did manage to bounce back, taking down Campbell by a mere two points (63-61) last time out.

Richmond may lead the all-time series by a 32-20 margin, but the Dukes are 13-10 in the games played on their home floor over the years. The most recent meeting took place last season with the Spiders capturing a 68-53 win.

In a game that featured 10 ties and nine lead changes, the Spiders crawled away with a narrow one-point win against the Tribe as the hosts forced 18 turnovers in order to combat W&M's 58.1 percent shooting from the floor. Terry Allen and Kendall Anthony both tallied 18 points and TJ Cline 10 more off the bench for Richmond as the team outscored the Tribe by a 29-7 margin at the free-throw line.

Averaging 37.0 minutes per game at this early stage, it only makes sense that someone like Anthony be the leading scorer for the Spiders heading into the weekend with his 15.8 ppg. Allen, who has knocked down an impressive 57.8 percent from the floor, checks in with 11.5 ppg and 5.2 rpg, while Cline has been a huge contributor off the bench with his 10.7 ppg stemming from a sizzling 65.8 percent from the field.

The Dukes used just three reserves during their close call with Campbell, but apparently that was all they needed as they slipped by with the two-point home victory earlier this week. Andre Nation tallied a team-best 15 points off the bench, but an argument could be made that the more significant effort was produced by Yohanny Dalembert with his 10 points and game-high 10 rebounds. Also having a hand in the win were Ron Curry with 13 points and six assists, followed by Jackson Kent and Winston Grays with 11 and 10 points, respectively.

Nation has played just two games thus far for the Dukes, but has been a positive influence with his 15.0 ppg on 54.5 percent shooting from the field. Jackson is second on the scoring list with 12.4 ppg, followed by Dalembert (11.0 ppg) and Curry (10.9 ppg), the latter also being responsible for 36 assists over seven games as he keeps his teammates involved at the offensive end of the floor.

With Nation back in the mix for JMU, the offense just got that much stronger and that is not good news for a Richmond program searching for that elusive first road win of 2014-15.