MEMPHIS, Tenn. – Mark Socoby’s 3-point runner as time expired went in-and-out Monday afternoon as the University of Richmond held on for a season-opening 44-42 men’s basketball victory over Maine in the Memphis Regional of the 2k Sports College Hoops Classic Benefiting Coaches vs. Cancer at the FedEx Forum.

The game was the first Division I contest played in the country this season.

“Obviously, we’re disappointed,” said Black Bears coach Ted Woodward. “We put ourselves in position and unfortunately came up a little bit short.”

David Gonzalvez had given the Spiders the margin of victory, sinking two foul shots with 3.8 seconds remaining.

Socoby, a sophomore guard from Houlton, paced Maine with 14 points, 10 rebounds and two steals. However, the Bears struggled at the offensive end of the floor.

Maine shot 42 percent from the field, but committed 29 turnovers and went only 1-for-11 from 3-point range.

“We were far more sloppy than we expected to be and we obviously were not in any kind of an offensive flow,” Woodward said.

Point guard Junior Bernal, who has been severely limited in practice because of an injury, finished with 10 points and eight rebounds. Brian Andre of Bingham, Jordan Cook of Hampden and Robby Hanzlik contributed six points apiece.

The Bears outrebounded the Spiders by a commanding 40-21 margin. Sean McNally of Gardiner grabbed nine boards.

Gonzalvez netted a game-high 15 points to lead Richmond, hitting three 3-pointers. Oumar Sylla added nine.

Maine limited the Spiders to 33 percent floor shooting, including an abysmal 4-for-21 performance from 3-point range.

“I guess you can see what we’ve been working on,” Woodward said. “We’ve been talking about how defense and rebounding are going to be the cornerstone of our program, especially with the young group that we have.”

Socoby’s bank-in runner from the lane had made it a 42-42 contest with 15 seconds left, but Jason Hight of Westbrook was whistled for a foul on Gonzalvez with four seconds remaining. He made both.

The score was knotted 23-23 at halftime, but Richmond opened the second half with a 9-2 scoring run to take a seven-point lead. The Bears went 0-for-9 from the floor to open the half, allowing the Spiders to take the upper hand.

Maine responded with a 10-2 spurt of its own while grabbing a 35-34 edge with 8:30 to play.

Andre got the Bears going with a dunk at the 12:48 mark, then Cook and Bernal each made a layup to cut the deficit to one point.

Dan Geriot sank a jumper for Richmond, but Socoby drained a jump shot and made a layup to give Maine the lead.

Cook then contributed a basket from underneath to give the Bears a three-point lead, but Gonzalvez answered with a 3-pointer at the 5:22 mark.

“I think every game we play this year is going to be a learning process,” Woodward said. “We know we’re going to play a team [Tuesday] night that’s an explosive offensive basketball team. We need to bring ourselves back and hopefully do some of the things we didn’t do [Monday night].”

SPIDERS 44, BLACK BEARS 42

Maine (0-1) Richmond (1-0)

Player G AG F AF TP Player G AG AF TP

McNally 0 4 0 0 0 Giddings 2 6

Costigan 0 3 0 0 0 Sylla 4 11 9

Bofia 0 2 0 0 0 Geriot 1 10 4

Bernal 5 13 0 0 10 Gonzalvz 5 15

Socoby 5 10 3 5 14 Butler 1 4 2

Hanzlik 3 6 0 0 6 Smith 0 3 0

Hight 0 0 0 0 0 Anderson 2 4

Andre 3 3 0 0 6 Hovde 2 4 4

Cook 3 4 0 0 6 Harper 0 0 0 0

Totals 19 45 3 5 42 Totals 17 51 44

Maine 23 42

Richmond 23 44

3-pt. goals – Maine (1-11): McNally 0-2, Costigan 0-1, Bernal 0-1, Socoby 1-4, Hanzlik 0-3; Richmond (4-21): Giddings 1-1, Sylla 0-4, Geriot 0-2, Gonzalvez 3-4, Butler 0-3, Smith 0-3, Anderson 0-2, Hovde 0-2