University of Richmond
SAINT JOSEPH'S
Men's Basketball Races Past Saint Joseph's, 78-68
02/24/2007 | Men's Basketball
Feb. 24, 2007
Box Score | Quotes | Notes | Photos 
| Highlights 
UNIVERSITY OF RICHMOND, Va. - The Richmond men's basketball team led by as many as 21 points in the second half of a 78-68 victory over Saint Joseph's in front of 5,025 fans at the Robins Center for Senior Night.
The performance of freshman guard David Gonzalvez (21 points) and freshman center Dan Geriot (18 points), both on 7-for-11 shooting, previewed the Spider youth movement and in the end, senior Peter Thomas got a standing ovation as fans paid tribute to his four-year career spanning from freshmen walk-on to senior captain on scholarship.
Thomas, in his 57th consecutive start and 103rd career game at Richmond, contributed seven points on perfect 2-for-2 shooting from the field and 2-for-2 from the free-throw line. He also dished out three assists in the 34 minutes he played.
"I'm very happy for our guys, Peter in particular," Richmond head coach Chris Mooney said. "It's been a struggle and tonight I thought we played clearly our best game of the season. I thought we were able to really control the game throughout."
Saint Joseph's (17-11, 9-5 Atlantic 10), which came to Richmond with four-straight wins, led 8-7 four minutes into the game. But a second-straight 3-pointer from Gonzalvez gave Richmond the lead for good with 15:49 left in the first half and the Spiders never looked back. Gonzalvez scored 14 of his 21 points in the opening half and finished the game with four treys.
The second trey Gonzalvez hit at 15:49 started a 17-6 run for the Spiders pushing the team's lead to 24-14. Richmond entered halftime up 35-30.
After the Hawks cut the lead to just three points out of the break, the Hawks fell back behind 50-40 with 14:25 remaining in the game. From there the Spiders rattled off another scoring streak, this time a 15-4 run. A lay-up from Geriot capped the run, stretching the score to 65-44 at the 7:45 mark.
"I give a great deal of credit to Chris and those young kids for taking it to us right from the beginning of the game," Saint Joseph's head coach Phil Martelli said. "They whipped us from beginning to end basically."
The Spiders boasted a 27-0 bench point advantage in the contest, including 15 from junior forward Oumar Sylla. All of Sylla's points came in the second half and he also managed to grab five rebounds in his 19 minutes played.
Geriot also helped Gonzalvez and Sylla carry the strong Spider shooting effort - 61.7 percent for the game and 71.4 percent in the second half. It was the third time this season that the Spiders shot over 60 percent from the floor and the seventh time Richmond shot over 50 percent.
Saint Joseph's sophomore forward Ahmad Nivins scored a game-high 27 points on 10-of-11 shooting from the floor, leading three Hawks in double-figures. Pat Calathes had 20 points and Jawan Carter added 13.
The Spiders, despite getting out-rebounded 33-24, collected 17 assists to just six turnovers. The game marks the third time this year Richmond has turned the ball over a season-low six times.
"We didn't have one turnover in the first half," Mooney said. "We only had six for the game, again with a team where eighty minutes of guard play are played by all freshmen."
Richmond hits to the road to face St. Louis on Wednesday at 7 p.m. The Billikens dropped to 17-11 overall and 7-7 in league play with a 53-50 loss on Saturday to Massachusetts.
