Richmond outmuscled by St. Joseph's, 70-60

The University of Richmond was unable to overcome Saint Joseph's University's post play Wednesday night at the Robins Center.

The Hawks outrebounded the Spiders, 47-27, and finished with a 38-24 advantage in points in the paint, leading to Richmond's fourth loss in five games, 70-60.

"Part of the rebounding number of course is we missed so many shots, and that kind of inflates their defensive rebounding numbers," Richmond coach Chris Mooney said. "But I thought offensive rebounds hurt us tonight."

Despite those large advantages for St. Joe's, the Spiders were able to keep close through much of the game thanks to a few timely scoring runs that were aided by Hawk turnovers.

The biggest of these runs came midway through the first half with the Hawks ahead, 18-10. Richmond went on a 15-2 run over the next eight minutes to take a five-point lead.

However, the Hawks responded in the final two minutes, going on a 7-0 run of their own to take a two-point lead into halftime. The run was highlighted by an alley-oop dunk by center C.J. Aiken with four seconds remaining off a pass from forward Halil Kanacevic.

"That was tough," Richmond guard Darien Brothers said about St. Joe's run. "All we needed to do was dig in and make some defensive stops, and we didn't do that. I felt that kind of disrupted us going into the second half."

The Hawks continued their momentum in the second half, starting with a 15-3 run that pushed their lead to 14, but the Spiders again refused to go away.

After exchanging made shots for two minutes, Richmond used a pair of turnovers and missed shots to build a 9-0 run to get back within four points. The run was finished off by guard Cedrick Lindsay nailing a three-pointer in the corner.

Lindsay led the Spiders with 14 points, while Brothers finished with 13.

St. Joe's again responded by going to inside, scoring 10 unanswered points, eight of which came in the paint. Richmond would not get any closer than a seven-point deficit the rest of the way.

Five players scored in double figures for the Hawks, with guard Carl Jones leading the way with 16 points and 10 rebounds.

The loss drops the Spiders to 12-11 on the season, with a 3-5 record in the Atlantic 10 Conference. They will try to avoid dropping to .500 on Saturday when they travel to Duquesne University for a 7 p.m. game.

Game Notes: After scoring a season-high 102 points against Fordham University two game ago, Richmond has scored a combined 107 points in its last two... The Spiders were a perfect 12-12 from the free throw line... At 14-9, St. Joe's has already surpassed its win total of 11 last season.

Contact staff writer David Weissman at david.weissman@richmond.edu