I know you all have all the postgame extras you need, but big fans can always use more.
We’re having technical difficulties with our site this morning, but I wanted to post Andrew’s article, notes and press conference transcript on the game here.
Take care ladies and gents.
- JJ
Niners fall to Richmond
Andrew Stark
Streaks are made to be broken.
All good streaks must come to an end, just hopefully not on the same afternoon.
Maybe it was the fact that it was homecoming. Maybe it was the week off. Maybe it was a wake-up call; a blessing in disguise.
Whatever it was, the end result was Richmond defeating Charlotte 64-58.
Charlotte had won 10 consecutive games at Halton Arena.
Charlotte had defeated the Spiders all three previous times they hosted them.
Leemire Goldwire had scored in double figures all 19 games Charlotte had played this year.
Lamont Mack had tallied double figures in seven straight games.
With all that coming to an end, the 49ers must create a new identity as they enter a crucial stretch of their season and make a run towards the conference tournament.
The 49es struggled from the onset Saturday, making just one of 23 3-pointers. Mack was 0-7, Goldwire was 0-8, and Ian Anderson was 1-6 from behind the arc, contributing to the 4 percent 3-point shooting.
Goldwire and Mack finished with five points apiece.
Goldwire struggled all afternoon and was visibly shaken by the Spiders defensive web, often forcing shots. One Goldwire 3-pointer from the corner clanked off the side of the backboard. Another was an air-ball.
“Lee forced a couple, without question, but he has made a lot of shots to help us win, too,” said head coach Bobby Lutz. “It is not like the wrong guys are shooting for us from the perimeter, it is just they didn’t make it.”
Anderson had two 3-point attempts catch nothing but air, and another was blocked out of bounds.
The 49ers never could get started in the first half, and trailed at the break 33-24. One play exemplified how the half went for Charlotte.
Charlie Coley had a steal and a break away early in the game. As the crowd erupted in anticipation, Coley misjudged his take-off and simply laid it in. This is the same Coley who jumped over a teammate to slam a dunk home at the annual Midnight Madness.
Coley proved to be the offensive bright spot for Charlotte, hitting all six of his field goal attempts, and slamming home four dunks. Coley finished the game with a career-high seven steals, tying the all-time record for the 49ers, and 13 points and seven rebounds.
One of the prettiest plays of the season saw Coley create a steal, and feed Mike Gerrity who was leading the break. As Gerrity approached the basket he tossed an over-the-shoulder pass to Coley who threw it down, igniting the crowd.
While Coley was the bright spot, the 49ers struggled to get into rhythm all afternoon.
“It was kind of frustrating out there on the court and everything. It was,” said Coley.
After a 17-5 second half run capped off by another acrobatic Coley dunk, the 49ers took their largest lead of the game at 47-45.
“As soon as we had gotten the lead I really felt like we were going to win the game, the crowd was in it, [and] we were in it,” said Coley.
Richmond would answer with a 12-5 run of its own, and held off the 49ers with free throw shooting down the stretch, another problem area for Charlotte.
With Charlotte trailing 45-40 with just under nine minutes to play, Richmond head coach Chris Mooney was issued a technical foul for leaving the coaching box.
Goldwire attempted the two technical foul free throws but missed them both. Goldwire finished 3-6 from the line.
Gerrity had a chance to bring Charlotte even with two free throws as the 49ers trailed by only two with 1:12 left in the game. He missed both attempts and five of six for the game.
As a team, Charlotte made 21 of 34 free throws, but just 14 of 25 in the second half.
Charles Dewhurst was the exception, making all eight free throw attempts on his way to 10 points and six rebounds.
An’Juan Wilderness made five of seven from the charity stripe and finished with 11 points.
Charlotte had chances to take the lead and win the game due to its tenacious press, trapping the Spiders and forcing them into several turnovers, but could never fully take control.
Richmond, who shot 65 percent in the first half and 49 percent for the game, proved too much despite committing 22 turnovers.
The Spiders were led by Kevin Anderson who scored 17 points. Gaston Moliva added 12 points and Dan Geriot 11 rebounds despite committing nine turnovers.
The 49ers will travel to Dayton on Wednesday, St. Bonaventure on Saturday, before returning home to face #15 Xavier Feb. 13.
Richmond will play its next two games at home; Wednesday versus Temple and Saturday against Saint Louis.
The loss leaves Charlotte 4-2 in the Atlantic-10 and 13-7 on the season.
Lutz remains one victory shy of tying Jeff Mullins’ school record of 182.
“I am confident our guys will bounce back and we will play hard with energy and effort just like we did the second half,” said Lutz. “We gave the effort we needed to win the game and I am confident we will be there again Wednesday.”
Notes
-I have never seen Goldwire more in a hurry to take his shots. He forced several and was totally taken out of his game. Give Richmond credit, because they hounded him all night and never allowed him to get going in the flow of the offense.
-Phil Jones had one of the ugliest shots of the season. From around the free throw line he hoisted his only attempt of the game. The ball struck the backboard probably a foot and a half above and to the right of the square and clanked off violently.
-As the point guard situation is still being worked out, Gerrity is clearly the better of the two offensively. Dijuan Harris provides great energy and ball handling, but is offensively limited. Harris is a fan-favorite and will be good down the road, but for now maybe Gerrity should see the bulk of the minutes.
-During one official timeout, the crowd booed the referees the entire time, getting increasingly louder as more time passed. It is no secret that A-10 officials are not the best in college basketball, and this game was no exception.
-Chris Mooney, Richmond’s coach, was so far out of the coaching box on several occasions that fans started to notice and demanded action. He received one technical, but could have had many for that and for arguing calls all night long. Several times Mooney called the officials over to talk to them, and was not holding much back.
-Charles Dewhurst is going to average close to a double-double before his career at Charlotte is over. He is one of the steadiest contributors, but seldom looks to create his own shot. He admits that he is still young and his scoring will come.
-Of the 46 fouls called in the game, only 18 were against the 49ers.
-Charlie Coley received a technical for touching the ball out-of-bounds when Richmond was trying to inbound it.
Postgame press conference transcript
Coach Bobby Lutz: “It is obviously disappointing to lose anytime, especially on a day like today. But as always, you have to give Richmond credit. When we couldn’t make them turn it over they scored the ball very well. It is the first time a lot of our guys have played against that style. The big part is that they made it hard when we made a mistake. They made the shot whether it was a 3, whether it was Moliva who is not really a great 3-point shooter, he made it. Gonzalvez who we knew was a good 3-point shooter, he made some big ones. 14 [Kevin Anderson] is not a good percentage 3-point shooter, but he made it, so you have to give them credit, they did the things that they needed to do to win the game. Still, we fought back and found a way to get ourselves back in the game and had some chances, but just failed to make shots down the stretch and they did. We missed some foul shots too, certainly our guys are trying to make them, so it’s not like they are trying to miss them but our free throw shooting in the second half was below 60 percent which, you know we have been a lot better at that lately but today we weren’t. Give them credit, they came in to a great crowd and good atmosphere and despite the fact that we were able to get some turnovers and get some momentum, Charlie had some great steals and dunks and we got back into the game. We had a chance; we actually took the lead and had a chance, but Richmond made some big shots and big plays down the stretch and were able to win the game.”
Question: “Charlie can you just talk about, it appeared to be kind of frustrating when you guys couldn’t seem to score for a while, no matter what you tried.”
Charlie Coley: “Yeah, it was kind of frustrating out there on the court and everything. It was.”
Question: “Charlie, could you tell us why they are difficult to deal with when they play defense? It is that match-up thing, I guess they switch on all screens, it just looks like it is tough to find shots.”
Coley: “It is real tough to find shots in that, you don’t know who to screen because they just sag and go out. I wasn’t trying to block anybody, but it’s like a sag man or a sag zone.”
Question: “Did you feel when you went up, here we go all we needed to do is get the lead, now let’s push?”
Coley: “Yeah, as soon as we had gotten the lead I really felt like we were going to win the game, the crowd was in it, we were in it.”
Question: “Did it appear in the second half that, it just appeared on some possessions that nothing you guys tried would work; I know you got kind of frustrated.”
Lutz: “Obviously when we were able to get the ball inside and drive it which is what we wanted to do a lot because we knew they were going to play that way, we felt like we could get some baskets or get fouled. I thought we did that, but again they are very good at what they do. You try to simulate it in practice, but you play it a week, and they play it from day one. They are better at it. I think the biggest thing is that they are just better. They did the same things last year and we won by 15 twice. They are just better players, the system; they are more comfortable with it. They got better players, the guys they brought in are just more athletic, and they just played well. We obviously shot the ball well inside the arc, but didn’t shoot it well from the 3. Lamont’s first shots were the same shots he made to help us win the game [vs. Fordham]. He may have taken one that was not a good choice of shots, every other one he took was a good shot. Lee forced a couple, without question, but he has made a lot of shots to help us win, too. It is not like the wrong guys are shooting for us from the perimeter, it is just they didn’t make it. We got off to a slow start despite having great looks, if you make a few of those that may change the way the game played. Again, they are better than they were. They understand their offense and defense better, and I think they have better players. We didn’t play particularly well, but again they had something to do with that and especially we didn’t shoot the ball very well. We obviously watched tape and prepared, but I have to do a better job of preparing us the next time we play them, so we can be more efficient at the offensive end.”
Question: “For you personally, you could have tied the record for all time coaching on homecoming would have been the perfect script. Home floor, obviously that is probably going to happen…”
Lutz:”I hope it does.”
Question continued “What do you; I know you have been a surprise story, in order to stay at the top, now you’re back…”
Lutz: “Now we are back in the pack with everyone else, but we still have games to play. If the guys know about it, it’s because the media tells them. I never talk to them about their record, and I don’t talk to them about it. I never talk to them about things like that. I assure you I want to win the game and I want to win the next game period, I don’t care where it is, I just want to win. Honestly everybody else is more concerned about that than me, I promise. That is not on my list of important things at all. I am just happy to be a coach, and I have been blessed to be here 13 years total. Yeah, honestly that is just not who I am I don’t care about that sort of thing; I don’t care about coach-of-the-year. My coach-of-the-year trophies are championships and NCAA tournaments that is all I care about. It is a nice thing, but certainly not anything we are going to dwell on. I defiantly would like to get it next week instead of waiting until we come back home.”
Question: “Speaking of next week, Dayton appears to be a much different team than they were at the start of the season because of the loss of two guys that have been really important. But at the same time you’re playing at their place, how will guys have a short turn-around before you go up there?”
Lutz: “They are still a good team; they are very well-coached and they are playing at home. Brian Roberts is still one of the top five players in our league. I don’t know if he will be player-of-the-year, but he will be in my opinion first team all-league. We don’t know if any of those guys, Little could be back. They are still a very formidable opponent, especially on the road. I told our guys the test of a good team is not how you handle the good times, but how you handle adversity. It starts Monday in practice, Monday and Tuesday, getting ready for Dayton. They do a lot of stuff, a lot of set plays for Roberts; they are not a one-man-team. I am confident our guys will bounce back and we will play hard with energy and effort just like we did the second half. We gave the effort we needed to win the game and I am confident we will be there again Wednesday.”