Loss to Temple drops men's team to last in A-10

The men's basketball team lost two games at home to Atlantic-10 opponents and dropped to last place in the conference with a record of 1-7.

Richmond was able to keep Temple University close last night and was within four points with a little less than nine minutes to play until the Owls went on a 20-3 run to close the game and push the final score to 80-59.

The Spiders had tied the game at 36 with a buzzer-beating tip-in by Kevin Hovde before halftime, but were unable to contain the Owls' offense in the second half.

"I think our defense let us down a little bit," head coach Chris Mooney said. "You can't lose sight of your man. We did that a few times."

Freshman guard David Gonzalvez led the Spiders offensively with 12 points, and Ryan Butler and Dan Geriot each added 11.

The Spiders continued their rebounding woes, getting outmatched 32-14 on the glass. They shot just 41.2 percent from the field, but only turned the ball over nine times and were able to pressure Temple into 16 turnovers.

The Owls converted all 13 of their free throw attempts and shot a season-high 67.4 percent from the field. Junior forward Mark Tyndale recorded a double-double, scoring 27 points and collecting a season-high 10 rebounds. Dionte Christmas and Dustin Salisbery chipped in 21 and 15, respectively.

Saturday night, St. Bonaventure University defeated Richmond 61-53 despite a late rally by the Spiders. Junior center Drew Crank poured in a career-high 23 points, 18 of them coming in the second half, and he came up one rebound short of a double-double. He led all scorers while shooting 10-for-13 from the field and converting three of four free throws in 25 minutes of work.

"I just came out and knew that every rebound was going to be mine, and I went out there with the aggression just knowing," Crank said. "I feel like the more aggressive I play, the more aggressive the team plays, and I just wanted to help get the team going."

The Bonnies jumped out to an 18-point lead early in the second half, but Richmond closed the gap to seven late in the game with a 12-4 run, ending with a tip-in by Crank with 2:53 left. But St. Bonaventure answered with a shot-clock-beating three-pointer from Tyler Relph and went on to make three of four free throws in the final 41 seconds to put the Spiders away.

Gonzalvez added nine points and knocked down the only two three-pointers for the Spiders, who shot just 12.5 percent from behind the arc. Richmond was out-rebounded 32-24 but managed to snatch 13 steals.

Mooney said: "I thought that our defense is getting better. I think we were aggressive. We had 13 steals and forced some turnovers, but we didn't shoot well enough to give ourselves a good enough chance."

The Spiders hope to climb out of the basement of the A-10 with coming road games against the University of Massachusetts and the University of North Carolina-Charlotte.