Playing its fourth road game of the season Wednesday, the Tribe (1-4) fell 58-55 to the University of Richmond Spiders (4-4).
p. Trailing 31-26 at halftime, the College started the second half on an 18-5 run to take a 44-36 lead with 10:27 remaining. 12 of the 18 points came from behind the arc during the spurt as the Tribe hit eight of 19 from three-point range for the game. However, the Spiders surpassed the College in three-point proficiency, connecting on 14 of 29 attempts.
p. Richmond’s sophomore guard David Gonzalvez caught fire in the second half, hitting four threes, including three in a row to put the Spiders up 53-50 at the 4:45 mark. Richmond held onto the lead down the stretch behind a short jumper from freshman forward Justin Harper and another three from Gonzalvez, which gave the Spiders a 58-53 lead with 1:46 left.
p. After the teams traded scoreless possessions, junior forward Chris Darnell’s lay-up cut the Tribe’s deficit to three at 58-55 with 0:51 remaining.
p. At the other end of the floor, sophomore guard David Schneider came up with a defensive rebound and fed senior forward Laimis Kisielius, who had his lay-up rejected by Harper and sent out of bounds.
p. The College retained possession with 9.8 seconds left when Darnell inbounded the ball to Kisielius in the lane. Kisielius dribbled out beyond the arc, but could not connect on his three-pointer, and Richmond’s sophomore forward Dan Geriot grabbed the rebound as time expired.
p. “It would have been a great win for us on the road,” Head Coach Tony Shaver said in a postgame interview on the Tribe radio network. “We had it there for the taking.”
p. Kisielius picked up three fouls in the first half and drew his fourth foul early in the second half to limit his playing time to just 16 minutes. Senior guard Nathan Mann paced the Tribe with 13 points on four of six shooting from three-point range as he regained his shooting stroke. Darnell and junior Alex Smith contributed 10 points each.
p. For the Spiders, Gonzalvez led all scorers with 21 and Harper came off the bench to chip in a career-high 13 points to lead Richmond to victory.
p. Prior to Wednesday’s road loss, the College earned its first victory of the season in its home opener Nov. 25 against Houston Baptist University. The Tribe pulled away midway through the second half to defeat Houston Baptist 79-70.
p. Sophomore David Schneider and senior Laimis Kisielius scored 19 points each to lead all scorers, while Darnell and senior Chris Stratton chipped in career-high efforts of 12 and 10 points, respectively.
p. The College travels to Richmond Wednesday to face last year’s CAA Champion Virginia Commonwealth University in each team’s first conference game of the season. Tip-off is scheduled for 7:30 p.m.
