Richmond survives Rhode Island in A-10 quarterfinal

ATLANTIC CITY, N.J. — University of Richmond senior Dan Geriot wanted a jumping chest bump from fellow senior Justin Harper after Harper's emphatic one-hand dunk with about eight minutes left in Friday's Atlantic 10 Conference quarterfinal game against the University of Rhode Island. But Harper, who rarely lets his emotion show on the court, instead went for more of a light, chest tap with Geriot.

Even though the celebration wasn't memorable, the play certainly was as it helped break Richmond out of its game-long shooting funk as the Spiders survived the Rams, 55-45, despite shooting 32 percent for the game.

Harper's dunk was in the middle of a 10-0 run by Richmond that changed a one-point Rhode Island lead into Richmond taking control of the game. During that run, six of the points were scored on free throws and the other four by dunks from Harper and junior Francis-Cedric Martel, as Richmond scored 38 of its 55 points from the foul line or in the paint.

"Well, obviously we didn't shoot the ball well," Richmond coach Chris Mooney said with a chuckle to start his press conference after the game. "For a team that shoots well, it catches you off guard when they shot that poorly."

Neither team scored much as the 100 combined points was the second fewest in a game in A-10 Tournament history and Richmond's 55 points was the lowest score by a winning team in tournament history.

Despite his important dunk, Harper did not have his typical, efficient-scoring night. He scored 12 points but shot 3 for 14 from the floor and just 1 for 8 from three-point range. But arguably his biggest contribution came from his 13 rebounds as he helped Richmond get a 42 to 35 edge in that stat and held the Rams to four second chance points.

Richmond's offensive struggles started early. Anderson made a three on Richmond's second possession after his defender fell down and Richmond would not make another bucket for the nearly the next four minutes when Anderson, who scored a game-high 21 points, made a layup. The struggles reached a peak at the end of the first half as the Spiders were held scoreless for the last 5:52 of the first half, but they were able to hold a 23-20 halftime lead.

Much of the credit for Richmond's poor shooting was due to Rhode Island's 2-3 zone defense. It forced Richmond to take 26 deep three pointers and when Richmond did try to drive down the middle of it, it was met by a couple of Rhody defenders who created ball control problems for the drivers.

On Richmond's defensive side, it did a good job of shutting down Rhode Island's leading scorer, Delroy James. James entered the game averaging 17 points per game, but was held to seven in the team's first meeting at the Robins Center on Jan. 13.

James was held scoreless during the first half but Rhode Island appeared intent on getting him more shots to start the second half. He attempted at least one shot each possession during Rhode Island's first five possessions when he scored six of his 10 points and Rhode Island took a two-point lead.

He was limited for much of the rest of the game as the Richmond defense started to focus on him.

"We just tried our best to stay tight on defense," Harper said. "For most of the game tonight, he was getting matched up with me or Dan and if he was able to get around us, our focus was to get another guy there and just be tight on him."

Richmond was also able to contain sophomore Nikola Malesevic, who scored 24 on the strength of six three-pointers against Richmond the last time the teams met. This time, Richmond held him to two points on 1-of-4 shooting.

Rhode Island hit four three-pointers as a team Friday, one-third of its total from its 78-74 win against Richmond earlier this year.

"They beat us pretty good at home," Anderson said. "The game might have been close but they beat us pretty good. We didn't have any energy or get any rebounds and weren't playing any defense and leaving their shooters open. ... Tonight we wanted to make sure our defense was good."

Richmond needs that same level of intensity on defense for its semi-final game against No. 2 Temple at 3:30 p.m. Saturday. Temple trounced La Salle University in the first game of Friday's nightcap and is the highest seed remaining after No. 1 Xavier's loss to the University of Dayton.

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