University of Richmond Athletics
University of Richmond
MCNEESE STATE
Men's Basketball Shoots Way Past McNeese State
11/26/2005 | Men's Basketball
Nov. 26, 2005
UNIVERSITY OF RICHMOND, Va. - The University of Richmond overcame a slow start to lead by as many as 14 points in the second half of a 58-50 victory over McNeese State (2-1) on Saturday at the Robins Center.
The Spiders (2-1) took a few minutes to get going, trailing 9-2 out of the gate, but Richmond responded with a 21-5 run midway through the first half to take the lead for good. Richmond pushed that lead to double digits in the opening minutes of the second half and opened up a 14-point lead with 10:02 to play on a 3-pointer by junior Peter Thomas.
Senior Jermaine Bucknor led the Spiders in scoring for the third-straight game and scored in double-figures for the sixth-straight outing with 17 points, despite facing a box-and-one defense in the second half.
"I thought he did a great job handling that," Richmond head coach Chris Mooney said. "He did not force anything, but he was still able to make things happen. We were still able to run our offense, but we just did some different things like dipping into holes in the defense."
"The coaches did a good job reminding me when I would run by the bench that I could do other things, like get to the glass and cut harder to get other guys open," said Bucknor, who also led the Spiders with seven rebounds.
Thomas scored a career-high 13 points, all coming in the second half, hitting a career-high three 3-pointers on six attempts. He also had two assists and two steals.
"The first two games I passed up some open shots and the coaches started telling me to take the shot," Thomas said. "When the coaches are telling you to take the shot, it gives you a lot more confidence."
Sophomore 6-foot-11 center Drew Crank posted a career-high 10 points, connecting on both of his 3-point attempts. He is shooting 66-percent (2-for-3) from behind the arc this season.
"I had never shot a 3-pointer in a game until (Tuesday against UVA," Crank said. "Coach has given me a lot of confidence. If I'm open he says take the shot. Today I felt confident, I had a couple of open looks, my teammates ran the offense to get me the ball and I made the shots."
Sophomore Monty Sanders also posted a career high with nine points.
Richmond sank nine 3-pointers with Thomas hitting a career-high three treys and centers Crank (2-for-2) and Kevin Steenberge each connecting on the first 3-pointers of their careers.
"We've shown huge improvement," Crank said. "We're trying to improve on our half-court offense. We've been working on running the offense all the way through to get open looks for everybody. Today we really pushed it all the way through and got a lot of open looks."
The Spiders, who had just 10 points coming from the non-starters in the first two games combined, got 21 points off the bench on Saturday. Richmond got significant minutes out of its reserves, with true-freshman walk-on Duncan McLean (28), Sanders(26) and Crank (21) all playing over 20 minutes. Junior Gaston Moliva played 10 minutes.
"The guys coming off the bench today gave us a huge lift, we wouldn't have won the game without them," Mooney said. "Drew, Duncan, Monty and Gaston all gave us sold minutes. We play the players who we think give us the best chance to win."
The Spiders fell behind 9-2 in the game's first 3:23, but after the first media timeout, Bucknor drove baseline and dunked and Crank added his first career 3-pointer in just his second-career attempt from behind the arc. A jumper by Oumar Sylla and then a three-point play by Sanders gave the Spiders the lead for good at 12-10 with 13:09 to play in the first half.
McNeese State did tie the game at the 11:59 mark, but Richmond went on an 11-2 run to take a 23-14 advantage on two free throws by Moliva with 7:13 left in the half. Richmond led by eight on a 3-pointer by Sanders with 24 seconds left in the half, but two free throws by Troy Aaron made it 31-25 at the break.
The Spiders opened the second half on an 8-2 run to take a 12-point lead, thanks to a pair of treys from Thomas and a jumper by Crank. McNeese State cut the gap to eight, but Crank's second 3-pointer of the game, two free throws by Bucknor and Thomas' third trey of the second half opened up a 47-33 lead.
McNeese State did make a late run, pulling to within four points with 1:58 to play, but Bucknor and Thomas each canned a pair of free throws to seal the win.
"When your leading by 14 there in the second half you would like to turn that into a 25-point win, but we'll take the win," Mooney said.
The Spiders will host Seton Hall of the Big East Conference on Thursday at 7:30 p.m. in the Robins Center. The contest is the fourth-straight home game to start the season for Richmond.
"Thursday is a huge game for us," Mooney said. "It's very important that we play well and feel good about what we're doing, so that will give us confidence. We have to zero in, have three good practices and just keep getting better and better."
