St Joseph's defended its home turf: it's hard turf that doesn't get much sunlight and used to be trees. That was a joke: they play on a hardwood court, of course...it was their court though and in team sports that makes the difference. An actual turf basketball game would be interesting to watch, wouldn't it.
Richmond came into town very capable of beating anyone in the A-10: they beat VCU several weeks ago on their own home court by making an unlikely comeback in the closing seconds of that one, beating the Rams in what looked like a rout by the final score. St Joe's also took VCU to overtime, but in their case they lost a very late lead in regulation and lost that game in overtime.
University of Richmond v. St Joseph's University...February 13, 2013
This was a tight game in the second half with both teams slowing down, perhaps by fatigue, and the score ended up being St Joe's 61 Richmond 55...it looked as if the game might be in the 70s for one or both teams after the first half where Richmond led 36-27. St Joe's only really plays seven players so their victory potential is on a fine edge. Tonight they only had six players get significant minutes. Richmond isn't as strong as they've been in recent years and road victories have been tough to come by in the 2012-13 season.
The game showed the state of the two teams' well being...Richmond built up a nine-point lead by halftime, 36-27. They led most of the first half and the Spiders feasted on the Hawks lack of depth while their own legs were fresh; after the Hawks rested their legs and got coached up at half time they went on a 15-0 run right out of the gate to erase their deficit and go up by six: 42-36.
St Joe's starters, get this, played 176 minutes tonight with Carl Jones going the distance: he played all 40 minutes. This wasn't the first time he's gone 40 minutes this year. He scored 17 points in his time on court. Halil Kanacevic was the only non-starter getting significant minutes off the bench: he got 20 minutes of playing time. The Hawks played only eight people tonight. Ron Roberts, Jr. got a double-double for the Hawks: he had 16 points and 10 boards. C.J. Aiken had 10 points.
Richmond's starters luxuriated getting only 124 minutes of court time...Spiders' 2012-13 leading scorer Darien Brothers ended up with only six points. His teammate Kendall Anthony put up 13 points and Cedrick Lindsay had 12. The Spiders were out-rebounded significantly in the game: 36-24. They could have won the game with better free throw shooting, but St Joe's also missed a lot of free shots...
St Joe's was 19-45 in field goals to Richmond who was 19-59...from the line St Joe's was 20-28 compared to the Spiders who were 11-18...
Richmond is now 14-11 and 4-6 in A-10 play...St Joe's is 14-9 and 5-5 in the A-10 conference.
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