Bucknell University Athletics
Bucknell University
3-7
Richmond
6-5
Richmond Pulls Away from Bucknell in Second Half, 79-57
12/22/2008 7:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Dec. 22, 2008
RICHMOND, Va. - Justin Harper scored 18 points and Richmond broke open a close game with a 31-10 run over a 10-minute span in the second half to take a 79-57 decision from Bucknell on Monday night at the Robins Center. G.W. Boon and Bryan Cohen tallied 14 points apiece and Patrick Behan had 13 and a career-high 11 rebounds for the Bison, who remained winless on the road this season and fell to 3-7 overall.
Richmond (6-5) also received 14 points from David Gonzalvez and 11 from Kevin Anderson, and the Spiders shot 56 percent in a 50-point second half.
The Bison jumped out to a very good start and had an early 10-point lead, but the Spiders hit them with a 14-0 run late in the first half to take a six-point lead into the locker room. Richmond extended that cushion to 11 at 34-23 when Anderson hit a 3-pointer and Jarhon Giddings made a layup to start the second half.
The hot 3-point shooting of G.W. Boon got the Bison back in it. Boon hit three treys in a little over four minutes, the last of which brought Bucknell back within three at 45-52 with 13:06 to play. But the Bison went ice cold after that, and Richmond scored almost every time down the floor to pull away.
Conor Smith's 3-pointer kicked off a game-changing 20-3 run for Richmond. Anderson had three buckets and Harper hit two 3-pointers in that stretch, the latter giving the Spiders a commanding 65-45 lead with 6:22 left. Later Richmond went on a 9-0 run to take its largest lead of 24 points at 76-52.
Bucknell received back-to-back 3-pointers from Bryan Cohen and G.W. Boon keying a 12-2 run that gave the visitors a 16-6 lead less than eight minutes in. But after making six of their first 10 field-goal attempts the Bison went cold offensively. They went 3-for-15 from the field in the last 12 minutes, and the Spiders struck back with a 14-0 run to take the lead for the first time.
Conor Smith's 3-pointer started the run, and Gonzalvez finished it with seven points in 57 seconds. His step-back elbow jumper gave Richmond a 27-21 lead before Behan ended Bucknell's 4:40 scoring drought with a left-corner set shot.
The Bison made only 3 of 15 3-point attempts in the first half and 7 of 25 overall. They shot 39.3 percent from the field in the game.
Behan's double-double was the first of his career. Jason Vegotsky led the Bison with four assists.
Bucknell was hurt by 16 turnovers, including several against Richmond's full-court press. The Spiders finished with a 27-9 edge in points off turnovers.
After taking a few days off for the holidays, the Bison will return to action on Sunday, Dec. 28 at Marist at 4 p.m.
