University of Richmond
Massachusetts
Men's Basketball Overtaken By UMass
02/03/2007 | Men's Basketball
Feb. 3, 2007
UNIVERSITY OF RICHMOND, Va. - The Richmond men's basketball team led UMass by as many as nine points in the first half and had a 31-30 lead at the break, but the Minutemen came back to win Saturday in the Mullins Center.
The Spiders were down by just five with seven minutes to play and trailed by eight with 1:47 left, before putting UMass at the line led to a final score of 72-56.
Richmond committed just six turnovers, but shot 38.5 percent from the floor, making 20-of-52, and connected on just three 3-pointers.
"We've got to make more shots, especially from the free throw line," Richmond head coach Chris Mooney said.
UMass held a drastic advantage at the foul line, making 33-of-43 free throws. It was the second time in the last four games that a Spider opponent took over 40 free throws. Richmond went to the line 18 times and made 13.
Spider freshman Brian Morris had 11 points, while junior Drew Crank and red-shirt freshman Ryan Butler had nine points apiece.
Chris Lowe led UMass (16-6, 6-2 Atlantic 10) with 19 points, making 11-of-12 free throws. Gary Forbes had a double-double of 16 points and 16 rebounds. Rashaun Freeman scored 13 points and grabbed eight rebounds.
The Spiders trailed 14-11 with 11:47 to play in the first half, but went on a 12-0 run to take a 23-14 lead on a lay-up by Dan Geriot with 7:52 remaining in the first half. UMass went on a 10-0 run of its own to regain the lead, but a lay-up by Morris and two free throws by sophomore Jarhon Giddings put the Spiders up 27-24.
Giddings added a jumper in between two sets of UMass free throws and then ended the half with a tip-in at the buzzer to give Richmond a 31-30 lead at intermission.
The Spiders made just one field goal over the first eight minutes of the second half and soon found themselves behind by double-figures.
"We had a bad stretch at the beginning of the second half, but other than that I thought we competed," Mooney said.
The Spiders got right back in the game with a lay-up and two free throws by Gonzalvez and a 3-pointer by Butler, trimming the lead to five (49-44) with 9:50 to play.
The two teams exchanged baskets keeping the Spiders within five at 51-46 with 8:21 left, but back-to-back baskets from Freeman and Lowe gave UMass a nine point lead with 5:51 to play.
Gonzalvez cut that lead to seven with a bucket, but Forbes made 1-of-2 free throws and Lowe scored in the lane to push the lead to 60-50 with 2:25 to play. A pair of free throws by Gonzalvez and a lay-up by Butler had Richmond within eight with 1:47 to play, but UMass would make 8-of-10 free throws down the stretch to push the final margin to 16.
Richmond returns to action on Wednesday when the Spiders play at Charlotte at 7:30 p.m.
