The Collegian
Thursday, March 28, 2024

Spiders come back on senior night to defeat Dayton

Richmond senior David Gonzalvez didn't even know what he just did. His 3-pointer with 5:36 left in the game gave the Spiders their first lead during the second half and propelled Richmond to a 60-56 victory over the University of Dayton on Thursday night at the Robins Center.

"I wasn't sure [that Richmond had taken the lead] until they called a timeout and saw we were up one or two," Gonzalvez said.

Gonzalvez, playing his last game at the Robins Center, sealed the comeback for the Spiders and gave them their first lead since a 13-12 lead during the first half. Even though Dayton senior Marcus Johnson tied the game on the Flyers' following possession, it was Gonzalvez who once again came up big for the Spiders.

Junior Kevin Anderson missed a jumper one minute after Johnson tied the game. Sophomore Francis-Cedric Martel fought among a group of Dayton defenders and was able to get the offensive rebound. Thirty seconds later, it was Gonzalvez who once again hit a turn-around jumper from just within the foul line to give the Spiders a lead that they would never give up.

It was the combination of Martel and Gonzalvez who would expand the lead for Richmond. Martel stole the ball from Johnson and fed Gonzalvez for a layup and gave the Spiders a 57-53 lead with about one minute left in the game.

"We call him a ninja because he has great instincts, cat-like reflexes," Gonzalvez said of Martel, who finished with three steals. "Some of the steals that he got, he stole the ball from some of Dayton's quickest guards. He just straight-up picked them at crucial times in the game."

Dayton senior Rob Lowery cut the lead to one with a layup and foul shot with 49 seconds remaining. But the Flyers were forced to foul Anderson and he hit both free throws.

After a missed layup by Dayton, senior Ryan Butler was fouled and he hit one of his free throws to give Richmond a four-point lead with just 15 seconds remaining.

The game seemed to parallel the careers of Butler and Gonzalvez. The two senior suffered through an 8-22 first season and a 16-15 second season.

Dayton led by as many as 11 during the first half and went into the half leading by four after a pair of buckets by Richmond during the final 38 seconds of the half. Dayton led by six or seven points for most of the second half.

It appeared that Richmond would take the lead a lot earlier during the second half than it did. Junior Justin Harper hit a 3-pointer to cut Dayton's lead to three with 9:24 remaining in the game. Butler then recorded one of his six steals and outleted to junior Kevin Smith. But as Smith was going for a layup, Dayton junior Chris Wright swatted Smith's shot from behind and sophomore Paul Williams hit a 3-pointer to quite the 7,121 fans in the Robins Center.

Dayton grabbed 44 rebounds over the span of the game, including 20 offensive rebounds. The Spiders only got 25 rebounds, but made up for that with 14 steals. Dayton coach Brian Gregory credited Martel's two steals at the end of the game for preventing the Flyers from scoring during a crucial five-minute stretch.

"You can't rebound turnovers," Gregory said. Those turnovers plus a better job of defensive rebounding by Richmond held Dayton scoreless for five minutes as Richmond opened up the four-point lead.

It was senior night and Gonzalvez and Butler were honored before the game. Both of them shot below their season averages until the end of the game, when the team needed its seniors to step-up.

The final numbers show Richmond shot 42 percent from the floor, but for much of the game it was lower. Even though it wasn't the best of games, Richmond coach Chris Mooney was confident in his team.

"I knew a shot or two would fall," Mooney said. "We are a good shooting team and we hadn't shot well at all. I knew a shot or two would fall and it was important not to let it get to 10 or 12 [point deficit], to make sure we were still in striking distance when we started to make shots."

The Spiders are now 23-7 and 12-3 in the A-10. The Spiders finished their year 14-1 at home with their only loss coming against the University of North Carolina at Charlotte on Jan. 20.

Richmond clinched possession of third for the Atlantic 10 Conference Tournament and can move up to second with a win at 2 p.m. on Saturday at Charlotte and a loss by Temple University.

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

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