University of Richmond Athletics
University of Richmond
Norfolk State
Buzzer Beater Caps Comeback To Spoil Home Opener For Spiders
11/10/2007 | Men's Basketball
Nov. 10, 2007
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SpiderTV: Highlights 
| Press Conference
UNIVERSITY OF RICHMOND, Va. - Richmond had an 11-point lead with just over four minutes remaining, but Norfolk State went on a 16-2 run to close the game, capped by Tony Murphy's long 3-pointer with .02 on the clock that gave the Spartans a 72-69 win in the Robins Center.
Richmond was leading for the first 19:59 of the second half by as many as 12 until Murphy's long range trey went down with under a second remaining. Murphy had a game-high 29 points, including the last seven for Norfolk State. He made 10-of-24 field goals and 7-of-13 3s.
"A guy like that is kind of fearless, he keeps coming at you and he did," Richmond head coach Chris Mooney said. "He was able to score some very big baskets."
The Spiders, who trailed No. 3 Memphis by just three with six minutes to play Tuesday night, seemed to keep the momentum going Saturday. Richmond seemed in control of the game throughout the second half and took a 67-56 lead with 4:41 remaining.
But the Spiders' offense went cold and Richmond watched that lead shrink to two on a layup by Michael DeLoach with 2:22 left. A layup by sophomore David Gonzalvez put Richmond back up four with 1:41 to play, but Murphy scored four-straight points to bring the game into a 69-69 with 24 seconds left.
The Spiders, who had just 10 turnovers on the night, committed their third turnover in the last 2:26 to give Norfolk State a chance to keep the game from going to overtime. The Spartans inbounded to Murphy on the left sideline and he let fly a deep 3-pointer that found nothing but the bottom of the net.
"We need to finish the game," Mooney said. "We need to take care of the ball, defend and rebound. We certainly turned the ball over too much down the stretch and gave them too many opportunities to come back."
Richmond sophomore Dan Geriot led the Spiders with his first-career double-double with 21 points and 15 rebounds. Gonzalvez reached double-figures for the third time in as many games this season with 15 points to go with seven rebounds and four assists.
Senior Oumar Sylla had 10 points and six rebounds, while sophomore Ryan Butler had nine points, four rebounds, four assists and three steals.
Corey Lyons had 19 points for Norfolk State as Murphy and Lyons combined for 48 of the Spartans 72 points.
"We had turnovers that I think were uncharacteristic of us, and we were not able to stop two of their players," Mooney said.
The Spiders lost their second-straight to drop to 1-2 heading into a stretch of playing three of the next four on the road. Richmond plays at East Carolina on Tuesday night at 8 p.m.
"It's just a bump in the road hopefully," Geriot said. "We need to practice a little bit harder. Our last two practices weren't that great on Thursday and Friday. We just got to attack it a lot harder."
