Charlotte stuns Richmond at A-10 tourney 68-63
Thursday - 3/14/2013, 5:28pm ET
RACHEL COHEN
AP Sports Writer
NEW YORK (AP) -- Pierria Henry felt as though he stood on the foul line for half an hour.
Officially, under two seconds ticked off the game clock as the Charlotte guard hit eight free throws in the final moments of a wild start to the Atlantic 10 tournament in its new home at Brooklyn's Barclays Center. The 49ers stunned Richmond 68-63 on Thursday when the Spiders were called for three technical fouls in the last five seconds.
Richmond led 63-60 with 4.7 seconds to go, then watched helplessly as Henry drained shot after shot from the line.
"You couldn't make that up if you want to make a movie out of that one," Charlotte coach Alan Major said.
It all started when the Spiders chose to foul the 49ers to prevent Charlotte from attempting a tying 3-pointer. As Henry's free throw swished through the net on the front end of a one-and-one, Richmond's Derrick Williams and the 49ers' Willie Clayton became entangled setting up for a potential rebound.
Williams shoved Clayton to the floor, and the New Yorker playing near home drew a whistle. Reggie Greenwood, the conference coordinator of officials, said afterward that because the play happened during a dead ball, by rule the foul was a technical.
Instead of needing to intentionally miss the second free throw to hope for a tip to tie the game, the 49ers found themselves with three more foul shots -- plus possession -- to try to take the lead. Henry made the second end of the one-and-one, then both his attempts for the technical bounced around the rim and in to give Charlotte a 64-63 lead.
"When I was at the free-throw line and huddling up, my teammates told me, 'Man, we're going to make this. We're going to win the game and move on and take care of business for the next day,'" Henry said.
Williams, a junior who grew up in Harlem and played his last two years of high school ball at powerhouse St. Anthony in Jersey City, didn't want to talk after the game.
"Basketball's a hard game; it's very physical," coach Chris Mooney said. "There is a lot of positioning and things that happen during the course of the game, and you kind of have to make sure that recognizing the time and score of the game that we can't have anything happen like that. He's a great young player for us. He's a really good kid who has done a lot of good things for us.
"It's disappointing. I'm sure it's most disappointing for him that this would happen and kind of the game to turn out that way because of what happened."
Richmond had to foul, and when Henry forced up a shot from near midcourt as he was being grabbed, the referees awarded him three free throws. Mooney was then called for two technicals and ejected.
Mooney paced outside the locker room for several minutes after being led off the court, muttering, "How can they decide the game ..."
"I was upset and probably too upset," he said later. "So, again, I apologize. I wish it wouldn't have happened like that. I can't take it back right now, but I certainly wish I could, and I wish the whole last 4
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