Offense Sputters in Loss at St. Bonaventure

Wednesday, January 15

St. Bonaventure, N.Y.

7 PM

University of Richmond

7-11,2-3Atlantic 10

St. Bonaventure

15-3,3-2Atlantic 10

Richmond

St. Bonaventure

01/15/2025 | Men's Basketball

Box Score

OLEAN, N.Y. — The Richmond men's basketball team was held to its lowest scoring total of the conference season in a road loss to St. Bonaventure Wednesday night, falling to the Bonnies 63-49. The loss dropped UR to 7-11 overall and 2-3 in the Atlantic 10.

"We just haven't been able to sustain offense in terms of making shots, making shots around the basket, making shots from three-point range, and that puts so much pressure on your defense," said Spiders coach Chris Mooney. "And when you're away, it's hard for your defense to hold up and hold up and hold up if you're not scoring points."

Richmond shot 37 percent from the field, with 27 of its 46 field goal attempts coming from three-point range. The Spiders were a serviceable 7-10 from the foul line, but two of their misses were on the front ends of one-and-one opportunities in the second half. UR's 49 points were its second fewest in an Atlantic 10 game in the last six seasons behind a 64-46 loss at George Mason last March.

"I think we struggled a little bit to get some free layups, some back-door cuts. That's something we were trying to look for because they really were pressing up on the three-point line, but we weren't able to get to it," said Jason Roche, who led Richmond with 12 points.

Roche hit four of his five attempts from three-point range for his fourth double-digit scoring effort this season and first since recording 13 points vs Belmont on December 14.

"I'm going to do what I can to pull everyone together … especially with DeLonnie out," Roche added after Richmond played its second straight game without leading scorer DeLonnie Hunt, who will miss eight weeks after having surgery on his left foot Tuesday.

Jonathan Beagle added eight points on 4-5 shooting from the field and George Washington III hit a pair of three-pointers and a pull-up jumper for eight points in his first game action of the conference season.

"George has been really working at it and he's been incredible in terms of his commitment and then he comes in and bangs shots away – really good for us," said Mooney.

Making his second career start at guard, Apostolos Roumoglou led Richmond in both rebounds (7) and assists (5) while not committing a single turnover.

"I think you can kind of see some of the potential there. Some of the passes he threw were great," said Mooney.

Richmond's two best stretches came at the start of both halves. The Spiders led 10-4 a little more than three minutes into the game before the Bonnies roared back to take a 37-25 lead at halftime.

After the break, a 15-1 run over the first seven minutes of the second half gave Richmond a 40-38 lead with 13 minutes remaining.

"We've been struggling to start the second half, so that was an emphasis for us to make sure that we get off to a good start in the second half. We just have to sustain it further into the halves and execute a little bit better," said Roche.

"The momentum was our way and we had some possessions where we had really good looks and open shots and that's been our struggle all year," added Mooney. "We just can't sustain it at a high enough level on offense.

"We're going to put our heads down, get back to work tomorrow, and keep trying to get better."

The Spiders will spend the next two weeks at home, hosting Saint Louis on January 18 and Davidson on January 25. Saturday's game vs Saint Louis tips at 2:30 PM and will air nationally on USA Network. The game, presented by Sheehy Lexus of Richmond, is a White-Out, with fans encouraged to wear white to support the Spiders.