Just after the Atlantic 10 Conference opener for both teams at the A.J. Palumbo Center last night, a quiet conversation between coaches commenced.

Richmond coach Chris Mooney said something all-too-telling to Duquesne coach Ron Everhart: "When we make shots, we are pretty good," the Richmond coach said to his counterpart in the chatter between the two acquaintances.

Everhart understood as much, because he had just witnessed it right there in front of him.

Richmond (12-4, 1-0) connected on seemingly every crucial second-half long-range jumper it took in earning an 80-68 victory against the Dukes (9-6, 0-1). Duquesne let a three-point halftime lead fritter away and was outscored, 40-28, in the final 16 minutes.

"Exactly what we did to them in the first half, where we took them out of their game and created some turnovers and things, they did that to us in the second half," Everhart said. "They got in transition and their shooters just buried everything. You have to look at those guys and say it is a pretty good ballclub."

One which, for one reason or another, Duquesne historically cannot crack.

It was Richmond's 13th win in a row against the Dukes and the Spiders remain the lone Atlantic 10 team Everhart, in his fourth season as Duquesne's coach, has yet to defeat.

The recipe was simple last night for Richmond: Work the perimeter when in the halfcourt, or find the open man when in transition, catch it and then let it fly -- and the Spiders knocked in 13 of their 26 3-point attempts, 7 of 12 in the second half.

"We just let up on defense," said Duquesne guard Bill Clark, who led the Dukes with 18 points, but continued to underwhelm as a perimeter shooter, going 1 for 7. "We just didn't pressure the ball. We let them get hot in the second half with the3-point shooting. We switched up the defense a little bit and we probably got a little discombobulated."

Richmond's David Gonzalvez capitalized most on what Clark passed off as a discombobulating effort, finishing with 19 points and going 5 for 8 from beyond the arc as he drifted on the perimeter until someone found him wide open, then he rose up and knocked down a long jumper.

All five Richmond starters scored in double figures and combined for 11 3-pointers, with Ryan Butler hammering in three to help give him 14 points.

"We fell apart on defense," said Duquesne's Damian Saunders, who had his 12th double-double of the season with 16 points and 13 rebounds.

"We weren't moving how we were in the first half. I think we might have taken them lightly [in the second half] because we went into halftime up a couple. We have to learn from this game."

This is what the Dukes learned from this game: Just because a team is having a subpar half, you better account for the opponent the whole 40 minutes. As Duquesne was busy clawing, scraping and frustrating Richmond guard Kevin Anderson to only one bucket in the first half, Anderson took the game by the scruff of its neck in the second half.

Anderson scored 16 second-half points and routinely handled the Dukes' pressure single-handedly, putting his head down and bursting through it.

The loss, albeit serving as a conference-opening downer, did provide a bright spot as guard Melquan Bolding returned to the floor after a 13-game absence with a broken wrist.

He checked into the game with 12:57 remaining in the first half and scored on a layup 27 seconds later.

Bolding finished with three points, as that layup was his lone field goal.

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