Offensive Outburst Secures Spiders Win at South Alabama

Saturday, December 29

Mobile, Ala.

4:00 PM

University of Richmond

6-7

South Alabama

7-6

Richmond

South Alabama

Offensive Outburst Secures Spiders Win at South Alabama

12/29/2018 | Men's Basketball

Box Score AUDIO: Coach Mooney Post Game AUDIO: Jake Wojcik Post Game

MOBILE, Ala. – The Richmond Spiders men's basketball team wrapped up its non-conference schedule with a 91-82 win over the South Alabama Jaguars on Saturday. Jake Wojcik scored a career-high 22 points, reigning A-10 Co-Player of the Week Grant Golden had 22 and Jacob Gilyard added 20 as three Spiders reached the 20-point mark in a game for the first time since January 17, 2015 against Davidson.

Richmond made easy work of the Jaguars full-court press for much of the game, shooting 53 percent from the field, 44 percent from three-point range and 87 percent from the free-throw line en route to 91 points, its second-most in a road game over the last three seasons.

"We really did play very well on offense," said coach Chris Mooney. "Jacob (Gilyard) is so good at handling pressure and so confident and today, to be honest, he did it more with passing than I think he usually does. Multiple times during the game they really tried to turn up the heat on defense and we always had an answer."

For the second straight game, Gilyard tied a career high with nine assists, nearly half of the Spiders 20 assists in the game.

Richmond never trailed as the Spiders opened the game on a 10-3 run and built their lead as big as 10 in the first half. Richmond led 43-34 at halftime behind 14 points and seven rebounds from Wojcik.

In the second half, the Spiders used a 13-0 run to break the game open, taking a 67-45 lead on a Noah Yates three-pointer with 13:08 to go in the game. South Alabama cut the Spiders lead in half over the next six minutes but never came closer than double digits until hitting an uncontested three-pointer at the buzzer to make the final score 91-82.

Wojcik's 22 points were a career high and his eight rebounds tied a career best. Golden also finished with 22 points and eight rebounds, narrowly missing a third straight double-double but hitting the 20-point mark for the sixth time in his last nine games.

Richmond now enters its A-10 scheduled with four wins in its last six games. The Spiders will open conference play Sunday, January 6 at Dayton. The game tips at noon and will be broadcast on the NBC Sports Network.