University of Richmond Athletics
University of Richmond
La Salle
Men's Basketball Falls Short To La Salle, 59-56
02/16/2002 | Men's Basketball
Feb 16, 2002
PHILADELPHIA (AP) - Mike Cleaves scored 21 points to lead La Salle to a 59-56 victory over Richmond on Saturday.
Rasual Butler added 13 points for La Salle (11-14, 4-8 Atlantic 10). Scott Ungerer scored 19 for Richmond (14-11, 8-4), including 4-of-5 from 3-point range.
Richmond, which had won six of its last seven, played without leading scorer Reggie Brown, who was sat down for one game by coach John Beilein for missing classes.
La Salle led by nine points (47-38) with 8:40 left on a 3-pointer by Julian Blanks, and led 57-49 after Butler sank two free throws with 2:12 remaining. Richmond then scored the next seven points to close the gap to 57-56 on a drive by Mike Skrocki with 20 seconds left. Julian Blanks' two free throws with 15 seconds left pushed the lead to 59-56, and Patrick O'Malley's long 3-pointer missed at the buzzer for Richmond.
The victory avenged a 77-57 loss by La Salle at Richmond on Jan. 5.
Richmond scored seven of the game's first eight points, before La Salle rallied to take its first lead at 15-12 on a 3-pointer by Jeff Farmer.
La Salle took its biggest lead at 25-19, but Richmond countered with a late run to tie the game at 30 at halftime.
