Richmond rally falls short in Atlantic-10 final

ATLANTIC CITY, N.J. -- The stunned look on Richmond junior Kevin Anderson's face said it all. His runner from in the lane was in-and-out and instead of only a one-point Temple lead, Richmond continued to trail 49-46. The Spiders ended up losing to the Owls 56-52 in Sunday afternoon's Atlantic 10 final in Atlantic City, N.J.

Anderson's miss with 2:15 was the third of three consecutive opportunities the Spiders had to take the lead against the Owls. The sequence started with senior David Gonzalvez missing the front end of a one-and-one and then senior Ryan Butler missed a transition layup after a steal by Anderson.

"I feel like tonight we just missed shots," Anderson said. "I know I missed a lot of shots that I just shouldn't have missed."

Anderson finished the game 6-15 from the field which was good for a team-high 14 points. As a team, the Spiders shot better than the Owls (43 percent to 40 percent) but went only 5-19 from 3-point territory.

Richmond was seeking its first-ever A-10 title, but instead the Owls won their third-straight championship. Temple was also the regular season conference champion.

Although the team would have liked to have won the title, Richmond coach Chris Mooney knows there were still bigger opportunities to come this year for his squad in the NCAA Tournament.

"I told the guys, 'As devastating as the loss is or as we feel losing the championship game in such a close fashion, believe it or not, the next game is bigger than this game,'" Mooney said.

One area that the Spiders must improve on if they want to defeat No. 10 Saint Mary's College during the first round of the NCAA Tournament is in free throws. The Spiders went to the line only five times during the game and made only one of those attempts. Temple on the other hand went 12-14 from the free-throw line.

"I think we were tired obviously but both teams are probably tired," Mooney said. "We had an emotional win yesterday, a great win. So I'm sure we were a little bit tired and that's what the championship format does to you."

The Spiders had to play Temple less than 24 hours after a comeback victory in overtime against Xavier University during the semis. Anderson played all 45 minutes of that game and Gonzalvez played 44 minutes.

This game mirrored the Xavier game in that it appeared the Spiders were going to use a late comeback to win the game. Temple turned a four-point halftime lead into a 12-point margin with 12 minutes left during the game with back-to-back 3-pointers by senior Ryan Brooks. The Spiders worked to get the deficit down to eight with seven minutes remaining and Anderson was poised to lead the comeback effort.

Anderson got the effort started with a jumper to close the deficit to six. After Temple's Juan Fernandez, the tournament's Most Outsanding Player, responded with a layup, Anderson drove and found an open Butler underneath the basket for a layup. Anderson made the score 49-46 with a reverse layup and ensuing foul shot, but that is where the comeback came to a halt.

Richmond has three days to prepare for its first-round game against St. Mary's in Providence, R.I. Game time is currently set at 2:50 p.m.

Staff writer Reilly Moore contributed to this story.

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