The Collegian
Thursday, March 28, 2024

Richmond falls to George Washington on Senior Night

Kevin Anderson (14)
Kevin Anderson (14)

On paper, it was the perfect recipe for a University of Richmond men's basketball win: at home, on Senior Night, versus one of the Atlantic 10's worst teams -- a team that the Spiders had already beaten earlier this season.

But all of those facts meant nothing after the opening tip-off as the Spiders fell 66-57 to George Washington University Saturday night at the Robins Center.

"Their defense was much more aggressive" than in the first meeting, Richmond coach Chris Mooney said. "Our defense was so good up there, we were able to set the tone early. Tonight their defense did that. We shot way too many threes early and that's a bad habit to get into. When you're not making them it makes you a lot more guardable."

Before the game, the three Richmond seniors on the team -- Duncan McLean, Mark McGonigal, and captain Jarhon Giddings -- were honored. Giddings started while McGonigal and McLean played for the first time with 6.3 seconds left in the game.

"We wanted to get Duncan and Mark out there in the game," said junior David Gonzalvez. "It's very disappointing. It's disappointing the way we came out. Those guys deserve more than that, more than what we gave tonight."

Richmond was able to cut a nine-point GW lead down to two early in the second half, but it got no closer. With just under 10 minutes left in the game, GW had a 51-36 lead and clear control.

Richmond had one last run after the Colonials took the 51-36 lead. Freshman Francis-Cedric Martel cut the advantage to 10 with his three-pointer, and junior David Gonzalvez brought Richmond to within five with 3:26 left. Gonzalvez stole the ball, went for a one-handed dunk and was fouled on the play. He made the free-throw to cut the lead to 53-48.

Richmond wasn't able to gain any more ground on GW, whose lead was back up to 10 with under a minute left in the game.

The Colonials came into the game 9-16 overall and 3-10 in the A-10, good for 13th out of 14 teams in the conference. It will remain second-to-last in the conference standings with the win.

Richmond (14-14 overall) fell to eighth place in the A-10 with a 7-7 record.

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"I don't think we need any motivation," Gonzalvez said. "When you come out flat like that and you lose to a team that you beat pretty easily in the beginning of the season you can't wait to get back on the floor. I feel like everyone is itching to play again."

With 6:19 left in the first half, GW senior Rob Diggs converted a turnover by sophomore Kevin Anderson into a dunk, giving the Colonials a 23-14 lead and prompted Mooney to call a time-out. Richmond responded with a quick 5-0 run.

The Colonials took a 27-20 lead into the break, after a first half in which Richmond struggled shooting the ball. The Spiders connected on only 24 percent of their shots and shot poorly from the foul line, going just 2-for-7.

Second-half shooting proved no better for the Spiders, who finished at 26.5 percent for the game. The Spiders did improve their free-throw shooting in the second half as they went 11 for 13 in the half.

"When you shoot a poor percentage, you got to do the little things like get rebounds, loose balls and steals and knock down free-throws," Gonzalvez said. "You can still win a game shooting a low percentage but you got to do everything else. We didn't do that tonight."

Foul trouble for the Spiders limited the first-half play time for two of their starters -- Giddings and sophomore Justin Harper -- who combined played only 10 minutes for three points in the first half before picking up their second fouls.

It was the second meeting between the teams this season. Richmond won 60-48 in Washington, D.C., on Jan. 10.

"I think we played a lot tougher at their place," Gonzalvez said. "We knew they were a really good offensive rebounding team. We just tried to be more physical and aggressive. We tried to match their game and match their intensity. We just came out flat today especially in the beginning...In the A-10 you can beat a team and the next time you play them you can lose."

The lone bright spot was the play of Martel. He set a career-high for rebounds with nine and connected on both of his three-point attempts to finish with six points.

"He's a heck of a rebounder and [nine rebounds] in only 18 minutes that's really impressive," Mooney said. "He's very aggressive, he's extremly athletic. Francis just needs to continue to get seasoning [and] just to keep playing and playing. As he feels more and more comfortable out there I think he has a chance to be a terrific player."

Gonzalvez scored 18 points and Anderson -- the A-10's co-player of the week -- scored 11 points, all of which came in the second half.

There are two regular-season games left for the Spiders. Richmond travels to the University of Charlotte for a 6 p.m. game on March 3 and hosts Xavier University on March 7.

"We are actually a very good shooting team," Mooney said. "For us this is really an anomaly but hopefully that means we can bounce back and shoot well on the road in Charlotte."

Contact staff writer Andrew Prezioso at andrew.prezioso@richmond.edu

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