Atlantic 10 Conference Basketball Tournament |
|
A10 Fans Home |
Atlantic 10 Semifinals Recap(3) Richmond 89, (2) Xavier 84, OT
It comes as no surprise that an extra five minutes were needed to determine a winner in the final A-10 semifinal. Xavier and Richmond squared off only once this season, a 78-76 Musketeer win that took two overtimes to decide, so today's tilt was more of the same. There may not be too many teams as evenly matched as are the Musketeers and Spiders, and that was evident: The largest lead of the game came when Xavier's Jamel McClean threw down a transition dunk to put his team up 45-36 at the 16:59 mark of the second half. Richmond responded with a 20-10 run over the next eight minutes, taking a 56-55 lead. It was a nip-and-tuck affair from that point on, as the teams were a couple points of each other through the remainder of regulation and most of the OT period. It wasn't until the final ten seconds of OT that Richmond gained a measure of separation, securing the 89-84 win and a place in the A-10 final. The Big Picture: Let's call this game two in Richmond's Big Dance boot camp. Friday night was about surviving the frenzied second-half comeback from a lower seed that scrambled the game, while Saturday was about going round for round with a fellow heavyweight, and emerging triumphant. Chris Mooney's squad was money when it counted most on Saturday, scoring 40 second-half points on 56 % shooting from the floor and second outscoring Xavier 16-12 in OT. Junior guard Kevin Anderson, the A-10 Player of the Year, had 8 points in the OT, outplaying Xavier's studly sophomore guard Jordan Crawford in the decisive extra period. Anderson was just as clutch in the second half, as he paced the Spiders with 15 points. So long as he's healthy and backcourt mate David Gonzalvez is running with him, Richmond is a dangerous team. The Good: Richmond really only goes seven players deep, which would seem to be a liability, but so long as the guys Mooney calls on produce, it really isn't. In today's semifinal scrap, Mooney got 36 solid minutes from 6-6 sophomore forward Francis Martel and 16 highly productive minutes from junior forward Dan Geriot. Martel and Geriot combined for 21 points on 8-of-14 shooting, and 11 boards. What Richmond may lack in quantity on sitting on the pine, the Spiders make up for in quality.
The Bad: Xavier's sophomore guard Jordan Crawford is already one of the best perimeter players in the A-10, and he's earned his rep as being a go-to and clutch player down the stretch. Unfortunately, today just wasn't his day, as Crawford struggled to match up with Richmond's dynamic guard duo all game. The end result was a lot of rushed and forced shots, and questionable decision making. Crawford led the Musketeers in scoring with 20 points, but he needed 20 shots to get those 20 points, and he made only 1-of-6 triples. The Ugly: The Musketeers picked a terrible time to forget how to make shots, as they were an abysmal 2-of-11 from the field in OT. They blew lay-ups, missed jumpers, and even missed three freebies in the OT. Given the Musketeers' struggles in OT, it's somewhat astounding that they were only outscored 16-12 in the extra period.
What's Next The stakes just aren't that great for the Richmond Spiders heading into Sunday's A-10 final tilt versus Temple, yet, the fact is, Richmond helps itself immeasurably with a win tomorrow. “Upset” a Temple squad that has been the best team in the A-10 all season (and incredibly impressive in the conference tournament), and Richmond might get a very beneficial seeding when the final bracket is done.
By: Tim Coyne |