Temple ends Richmond's road winning streak, 73-53

PHILADELPHIA — All senior point guard Kevin Anderson could do was watch. Temple junior guard Ramone Moore had stripped the ball from Anderson near midcourt and Anderson, slowly getting up from the floor after a failed attempt to regain the ball, got a clear view of Moore's one-handed dunk. It was that type of night for the University of Richmond, as it lost 73-53 Thursday night at the Liacouras Center in Philadelphia, Pa.

Moore's dunk was near the end of a second-half 16-0 run by the Owls that turned a five-point Owl lead to a 21-point blowout of the Spiders. The Owls did it with a balanced offensive attack, led by Moore with 24 points and fellow guard Juan Fernandez with 20 points.

"It became tougher and tougher for us to score as the game went on and never became tough enough for them to score," Richmond coach Chris Mooney said. "And when they did miss, they had some key offensive rebound putbacks and were able to score that way."

That run by Temple was in response to four unanswered Richmond points to start the second half that cut into Temple's nine-point halftime lead. But it was sophomore Rahlir Jefferson, who was in the starting lineup because of normal starter Michael Alan's season-ending injury in practice on Tuesday, who made what Temple coach Fran Dunphy called the play of the game. Working against senior forward Justin Harper, Jefferson was able to get around Harper and get a layup that started Temple's run.

Richmond was unable to get back into the game as its normally accurate 3-point shooting was off. The team went 6-of-18 on 3-pointers and Harper, nearly a 50 percent shooter from 3, had his worst game of the year from deep, missing all five of his attempts.

Harper, who averages 18 points, started off the game well, scoring eight of Richmond's first 12 points, but missed his next four shots as Temple opened up a double-digit lead. Harper finished the game with 14 points on 6-of-17 shooting.

"They just played great defense, on-the-ball defense" Harper said. "I was able to get open shots, a lot of times I was forcing it too, but they are a great defensive team."

That Temple defense held Richmond to a season-low 53 points. Despite Richmond's below-average scoring, Anderson, who lead the team with 15 points, would not blame the offense for the loss.

"It wasn't our offense," Anderson said. "It was all defensive errors."

Those errors left Temple's shooters open and they rarely missed. Despite shooting 33 percent on 3-pointers coming into Thursday, the Owls went 7-of-14 on 3-pointers and shot nearly 56 percent from the floor for the game.

Moore did a good amount of Temple's damage from 3. He scored 24 points to lead the Owls, with half of those coming from 3.

"They just started out with so many easy baskets in the first half, so many layups and putbacks that it helped to put them in a rhythm," Harper said. "The tougher shots ended up falling after that."

No other Temple player exemplified this offensive revival than Fernandez. Fernandez came into the game in a shooting slump, but busted for 20 points on 9-of-10 shooting with the only miss coming late in the second half on a desperation heave before the shot clock expired.

The loss snaps Richmond's eight-game road winning streak, which was second-longest in the nation. It also keeps Temple undefeated at home this season.

More importantly for the Spiders, the loss drops them to fourth in the Atlantic 10 Conference standings with a 9-3 conference record. With the win, Temple moves to within a half-game of conference leader Xavier University.

Richmond has lost to both Temple and Xavier by at least 20 points, but Anderson said he is not concerned about the results against the top-two A-10 teams.

"It definitely gives you something to work on in the future," Anderson said. "We have a lot of things to work on. We could definitely see these teams again. It's nothing to hang your head on, we have something to look forward to. We want to play these teams again."

Richmond has a few days to recover before hosting Saint Bonaventure at 3 p.m. on Sunday. Before the game, the five Richmond seniors will be honored for Senior Day.

This version CORRECTS that Temple forward/center Michael Eric suffered a season-ending injury, NOT Lavoy Allen.

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