University of Richmond Athletics
University of Richmond
at St. Bonaventure
Richmond Stopped By St. Bonaventure
02/12/2006 | Men's Basketball
Feb. 12, 2006
OLEAN, N.Y. - The University of Richmond men's basketball team continued its struggles on the road with a 71-57 loss to St. Bonaventure on Sunday afternoon in the Reily Center.
The Spiders (11-12, 4-6 Atlantic 10) led by eight points early on, but St. Bonaventure shot 55.6 percent from the field in winning their first conference game of the year. The Bonnies (7-15) improved to 6-5 at home this season.
Richmond had allowed over 60 points only two times in the first 19 games, but has yielded over 60 points in the last four games.
"We're just not playing defense at the level we need to play," Richmond head coach Chris Mooney. "We are not a great shooting team and not a great ball-handing, so we have to rely heavily on our defense. We gave up too many easy buckets. We can't let a team shoot 55 percent against us. We have to do a better job on the defensive end, that's how we are going to win games."
Richmond senior Jermaine Bucknor scored all 18 of his points in the second half, while fellow senior Kevin Steenberge just missed a double-double with 17 points and nine rebounds. Steenberge also had three blocks, moving into second on Richmond's all-time list for career blocks with 137.
St. Bonaventure's Ahmad Smith scored 24 points to lead St. Bonaventure.
"He is a great player," Mooney said of Smith. "He's tough to defend because he is so crafty with the ball. He really knows how to get the ball into the paint and he used a variety of different shots to score. He was very impressive today."
Isiah Carson had 15 points and Paul Williams had 13 for the Bonnies.
The Spiders led 14-6 with 12 minutes to play in the first half, but St. Bonaventure would come back to take its first lead of the game at 20-19 with 7:55 to play in the first half and opened up an eight point advantage by finishing the half on a 12-2 run.
The Bonnies lead went to 10 on a lay-up by Smith to open the second half and, after a Steenberge bucket brought the lead down to eight, Smith scored again to push St. Bonaventure's lead to double figures for good. While the Bonnies pushed the lead to 19 on two occasions, Richmond used some full-court pressure to go on a 10-2 run and pull within 11 points (58-47) with 6:42 to play.
The full-court press forced another turnover and Steenberge came up with a steal, but the Spiders could not finish a lay-up and the Bonnies took advantage by going on a 9-2 run and putting the game away.
"Our offense struggled today, even when we cut it to 11 we had a lay-up and we missed it," Mooney said. "Our margin for error is so slim. We can't afford to not capitalize on opportunities."
Richmond continues its brutal road stretch of playing six of eight games away from the Robins Center when the Spiders play at Charlotte on Wednesday at 7 p.m.
