University of Richmond Athletics
University of Richmond
MASSACHUSETTS
Men's Basketball Dominates UMass, 81-66
03/01/2006 | Men's Basketball
March 1, 2006
Box Score | Quotes | Notes | Photo Gallery
UNIVERSITY OF RICHMOND, Va. - The University of Richmond men's basketball team opened March the way it ended January, with an impressive victory in the Robins Center by the score of 81-66 over Massachusetts on Wednesday night.
The Spiders (12-16, 5-10 Atlantic 10) lost all eight games in February, but picked up its first victory since a Jan. 28 win over Charlotte. Richmond had not broken 60 points in its eight-game losing streak, but responded with a season-high 81 on Senior Night. The Spiders do have one more home game on Saturday against St. Bonaventure, before playing in the Atlantic 10 Tournament beginning next Wednesday.
"All in all I was very pleased with the effort and it was nice to get a win and enjoy that feeling again," Richmond head coach Chris Mooney said. "I hope we'll build on it and get another home win before the conference tournament."
Richmond seniors Jermaine Bucknor and Kevin Steenberge led a season-high five Spiders in double figures. Bucknor scored 17 points and grabbed six rebounds, while Steenberge had 14 points and five boards.
Sophomore Monty Sanders also had a career-high 12 points. Junior Gaston Moliva scored 11 points, while junior Peter Thomas just missed double figures with nine points.
Richmond shot 57-percent from the field for the game and scored a season-best 51 points in the second half.
"When you make shots, it makes things so much easier and there is so much less pressure," Mooney said. "We were making them tonight and I think you saw how much that helped us."
The Spiders never trailed as seniors Steenberge and Bucknor hit 3s to help Richmond to a 9-0 lead and the Spiders hit seven of their 11 field goals and led by as many as 10 points in the first.
Richmond led 30-22 at halftime and then made 10 of its first 13 field goals of the second half to stretch the lead to 18 points (53-35) with 11:58 to play. Massachusetts briefly used a strategy of fouling the Spiders as a way of getting back into the game with nine minutes still remaining on the clock, but could get no closer than 12 points the rest of the way.
The Minutemen dropped to 12-14 overall and 7-8 in the Atlantic 10. The Spiders held UMass to 0-of-12 shooting on 3-pointers, breaking a string of 233 consecutive games with at least one 3-pointer dating back to 1998.
Stephane Lasme and Rashaun Freeman each had 16 points for the Minutemen. Lasme added 10 rebounds.
"I thought our defense was terrific, especially in the first half," Mooney said. "It was hard for them to get the ball inside to Freeman and Lasme, who are very good players. We made it difficult for them. They got a couple in, but not nearly as many as they probably wanted."
