Men’s basketball moves to .500 with win over Florida Tech

Six games have come and gone and the University of Richmond men’s basketball team still has yet to find its identity. 

The Spiders were able to pull out a 67-57 win in their first matchup of the Gulf Coast Showcase in Fort Myers, Florida against the Florida Institute of Technology on Nov. 25, but it’s evident that UR is still searching for some consistency in its play. 

Even in their previous wins this season against the University of Mount Olive and the University of Maine, the Spiders were never able to string together a completely consistent effort from start to finish. 

This has been a central theme throughout UR’s losses as well. Against a team like Bucknell University, for example – a program UR has defeated rather definitively in past seasons – the Spiders were not able to find their regular success, losing 80-76 in double overtime on Nov. 16. 

Even though the Spiders ultimately defeated the Panthers in a double-digit outing, their efforts for much of the game were not always as on par with the final score as they may have seemed. Over eight minutes into the first half, UR had only mustered six points on the scoreboard. 

The Spiders eventually went on a 12-0 run later on to move ahead of the Panthers 27-13 with three minutes to go until the break, but UR’s early woes offensively certainly did not make it easy to obtain an eventual 15-point halftime lead. 

UR ended up shooting 50% from the field over the course of the first half, but sloppy play kept the Spiders from surging past its Division II opponent. 

In the second half, Florida Tech was able to cut what, at one point, grew to as much as an 18-point deficit to as little as two points, but the Spiders were able to eke out the win regardless of how close the Panthers came to snatching back the lead. 

“We’re just not playing to the level that we need to play at in the games,” UR Head Coach Chris Mooney said in a postgame interview with the Spider Sports Network. “We’re practicing and we’re working hard, but we’re just not playing near the level we need to play at in the games.”

In a somewhat mediocre performance from the Spiders, senior guard Jason Roche proved to be a light spot. For the second-straight game, Roche scored in double-figures. 

In UR’s 70-66 win over Maine on Nov. 20, Roche made five 3-pointers to go along with 19 points. He upped the ante against Florida Tech with seven 3-pointers and 22 points. 

Graduate guard DeLonnie Hunt, junior forward Jonathan Beagle and sophomore guard Mikkel Tyne were UR’s other double-figure scorers, with Hunt and Beagle chipping in 12 points apiece and Tyne adding 10 of his own. 

Hunt and junior forward Apostolos Roumoglou were each forces on the boards as well, collecting 10 and 11 rebounds, respectively. 

This win brings UR’s record back to .500 following a 1-3 start to the season. After three-straight losses against Marist College, Charlotte and Bucknell, the Spiders have now won two games in a row – a feat they had not accomplished this year up to this point. 

“We’re really grinding,” Mooney said. “I mean that in working hard, but also we’re just, we feel stuck a lot and just have to continue to practice and fight our way through it, and fortunate to have another game tomorrow.” 

UR’s next game – its second of three in the Gulf Coast Showcase – is against Louisiana Tech University at 3 p.m. on Nov. 26. 

Contact sports editor Jimmy James at jimmy.james@richmond.edu.