The Collegian
Friday, March 29, 2024

Richmond tops Xavier in OT to advance to A-10 finals

ATLANTIC CITY, N.J. — The University of Richmond men's basketball team had everything break right for it at the end of regulation as the Spiders defeated No. 24 Xavier University 89-85 in overtime during the Atlantic 10 semifinals in Atlantic City, N.J.

The scenario was perfect for Xavier to put away the Spiders at the end of regulation. It held a two-point lead with 15 seconds remaining during the game and sophomore Terrell Holloway -- an 83 percent free-throw shooter -- at the free-throw line to shoot a one-and-one. What happened next is the stuff that highlight reels are made of.

Holloway missed the front end of the one-and-one and senior David Gonzalvez grabbed the rebound for Richmond. He gave the ball to junior Kevin Anderson, the Atlantic 10 Conference Player of the Year, and Anderson drove to his left and hit a game-tying layup with 3.1 seconds remaining to send the game into overtime.

Gonzalvez started the overtime session with a 3-pointer and the Spiders never trailed again. Anderson and junior Dan Geriot combined to go 6-6 from the free-throw line during the last 30 seconds of overtime to seal the game for Richmond.

"That was a sigh of relief for me when it went into overtime," Anderson said. "I was very happy. It lifted the team up because we were down five with like two minutes left and fought back. When we went onto overtime we weren't going to let this one slip."

Richmond was indeed trailing by five with two minutes remaining during the game. Richmond got within two after a 3-pointer by Gonzalvez but with less than a minute left in regulation, Xavier sophomore Jordan Crawford hit a turn-around jumpshot in the lane to put the Musketeers up by four. But Anderson responded with a layup, which set up his dramatic layup at the end of regulation.

Neither team had a firm grasp on control of the game. While Xavier led most of the game, there were eight ties and nine lead changes. Except for early during the second half when Xavier opened a nine-point lead, Richmond was always within two possessions of tying or taking the lead during the second half. Richmond did take the lead twice during the second half, but each time the Musketeers would storm right back.

"We knew the game wasn't over," Anderson said of trailing for most of the game. "It was going to take heart to fight back in it. We had been in situations like this before and fought back and won. This was just another situation we were in, another opportunity to come back and fight back and show our heart and show we are going to fight to the end."

This was the second meeting between these two schools this year. During the first meeting, Xavier pulled out a 78-76 victory in double overtime at home and knocked Richmond out of the AP poll.

"Ever since we left Cincinnati, we wanted to play this game," Richmond coach Chris Mooney said. "Not necessarily for revenge, but just because we realized how special the game was that we played in Cincinnati and wanted to be part of that again, to get our chance again."

During that last match-up, Richmond shot only six free throws during the game. Gonzalvez shot 10 free throws during the first half alone the second time around. As a team, Richmond made 23 of its 26 free throws attempted in its win.

"We wanted to be a little bit more aggressive," Gonzalvez said. "That was one of our goals we write up on the board before the game. ... We were fortunate enough to get to the line and knock down a lot of free throws."

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Four Spiders scored in double figures, led by Anderson's 27 points. Gonzalvez put up 26 points and had five assists. Junior Dan Geriot scored 11 and sophomore Francis-Cedric Martel added 10 in reserve roles. Martel also recorded eight rebounds, four of which were offensive.

Unlike the previous meeting during which the Spiders were outrebounded by 12, Xavier held only a one-rebound advantage against Richmond. The 41 rebounds were due in large part to the Spiders trying to slap the ball out of the Musketeers' hands, Mooney said.

The win moves Richmond into its second-ever A-10 final on Sunday. The only other time the Spiders appeared was in 2002 when they lost to Xavier. This year's game will be at 1 p.m. and televised nationally on CBS.

Staff writer Barrett Neale contributed reporting to this story.

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

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