University of Richmond Athletics
University of Richmond
COPPIN STATE
Spiders Dominate Coppin State
11/30/2008 | Men's Basketball
Nov. 30, 2008
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UNIVERSITY OF RICHMOND, Va. - Richmond led by 20 points for most of the second half and had a 24-point lead with 1:31 left in a 78-67 win over Coppin State on Sunday.
Chris Mooney cleared his bench with 1:00 remaining and Coppin State put on full-court pressure, forcing turnovers that led to baskets in a 13-0 run to close the game, but that still did not get the lead into single-digits.
The Spiders held Coppin State to 57 points through the first 38:47 of the game, before the Eagles scrambled for 13 points in the final 75 seconds.
"Obviously the last minute and a half was a little different, but I think our defense was better tonight," Richmond head coach Chris Mooney said. "We are a good offensive team, we are better offensively than we are defensively. I think we will be a really good team if we can raise the level of our defense."
The Spiders shot 54.5 percent from the field, including 69.2 percent in the first half. Junior David Gonzalvez scored 16 points and tied a career high with eight rebounds, along with dishing out four assists. Sophomore Kevin Anderson had 14 points and senior Jarhon Giddings had 12 on 4-of-4 shooting.
Sophomore Kevin Smith scored nine points, grabbed four rebounds and had three assists, returning from an injury that forced him out of the final 32 minutes of the Bradley game Wednesday.
Junior Ryan Butler had nine points, connecting on all three of his three-point attempts. Redshirt freshman Josh Duinker and junior Kevin Hovde each had six points.
Richmond opened the game with some full-court pressure and while Coppin State only committed 10 turnovers for the game, it definitely surprised the Eagles, and even was a shock to the Spiders.
"We didn't know we were going to do that until we got here tonight," Gonzalvez said. "Coach came in and was fired up, he said we were going to pressure them."
"That was just trying to energize the team, making sure we were into game," Mooney said. "I thought it made us the team that dictated the pace a little bit."
The Spiders scored 49 first-half points in taking a 49-32 lead at the break. Richmond made 9-of-16 three-pointers in the first half, but just 2-of-12 after intermission.
"I think it was there zone in the first half that made us take so many," Mooney said. "I don't want to shoot that many threes, I want us to be more aggressive. We've been a good field goal percentage team, the key to that is getting two point baskets."
The Spiders (4-2) hit the road for the last time before a four-game homestand when Richmond plays at Old Dominion on Wednesday at 7 p.m. in a game shown on Comcast Sports Net Mid-Atlantic.
The former CAA rivals have held serve since resuming the series in 2005-06 with the Spiders winning both times in the Robins Center and the Monarchs winning in Richmond's visit to the Constant Center two years ago.
