Unfortunately for the University of Richmond men’s basketball team, the success it saw on March 6 when it won a piece of the Atlantic 10 regular season championship could not be replicated in its last regular season game against George Mason University on March 9.
The Patriots defeated the Spiders 64-46 in what turned into a GMU blowout in the second half.
In the first half, the Spiders and Patriots were deadlocked at 9 by the first media timeout. GMU started strong from 3-point range, while graduate center Neal Quinn set the pace for UR with an early 3-pointer and a layup.
With 5:48 to go in the first half, the game was tied at 18-18, but eventually, the Patriots began to gain momentum. At halftime, GMU had pulled ahead by five points.
In the second half, GMU’s scrappy and quick style of play caught up with the Spiders and ultimately proved to be too much to overcome. With the Patriots’ smothering defense and UR struggling from the field, the Spiders found it difficult to decrease the growing deficit.
It was only a five-point game coming out of the break, but by the 14:53 mark, an 11-4 run out of halftime saw the Patriots increase their lead to 12.
A Quinn layup with just under 11 minutes to play in regulation cut the deficit to six points, but any hopes of a Spider victory were gone from that moment on. Much to UR’s chagrin, the Patriots took over the game and, with 1:42 to play, were up by as many as 23 points.
UR’s usual leader in the scoring column, graduate guard Jordan King, was limited to just 2 points throughout the contest. He went just 1-for-3 from the field and was completely shut down by GMU’s defense. He also had 4 turnovers, adding to UR’s total of 13 for the game.
Other players were able to contribute, as Quinn and graduate forward Isaiah Bigelow each dropped 11 points. Still, the Spiders were never able to get their legs under them in the second half, ultimately resulting in a loss to end the season.
Interestingly enough, a year ago, the Spiders faced the same result in their last regular season game. They fell to GMU 62-60 just a few days before the A-10 Tournament.
Heading into this year’s A-10 Tournament, which will be held at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York, the Spiders’ record sits at 23-8 and 15-3 in conference play, a significant improvement from last season, when UR ended the regular season with a 14-17 record.
In a postgame interview following the Spiders’ win over Saint Joseph’s University on March 6, Bigelow said that after one more night of celebrating, the team had to lock in for the A-10 Tournament.
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“We got bigger goals, bigger goals,” Bigelow continued.
With the No. 1 seed, the Spiders will play either No. 8 Saint Joseph’s or No. 9 GMU in the quarterfinal round of the tournament at 11:30 a.m. March 14.
Contact sports editor Jimmy James at jimmy.james@richmond.edu.
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