Spiders Fall To St. Bonaventure In A-10 Quarterfinals

Friday, March 9

WASHINGTON, D.C.

6:00 PM

University of Richmond

(12-20)

St. Bonaventure

(25-6)

RICHMOND

ST. BONAVENTURE

Spiders Fall To St. Bonaventure In A-10 Quarterfinals

03/09/2018 | Men's Basketball

Box Score COACH MOONEY, FORE, GILYARD POSTGAME

WASHINGTON, D.C. -- The Spiders furious comeback attempt against one of the nation's hottest teams fell just short Thursday night as Richmond lost to St. Bonaventure 83-77 in the Atlantic 10 Quarterfinals. After trailing by as many as 17 in the second half, Richmond stormed back to cut the Bonnies lead to two with less than a minute remaining before St. Bonaventure responded by scoring the game's final four points to secure their 13th straight win, tied for the second-longest active streak in the nation.

Richmond and St. Bonaventure, two of the three teams to appear in each of the last five A-10 Quarterfinals, traded baskets for much of the first half and were tied at 32 after 20 minutes. Early in the second half, First-Team All-A-10 selection Matt Mobley hit three pointers on three consecutive trips to start a 15-0 Bonnies run. Another Mobley three-pointer with 6:25 remaining in regulation -- his ninth of the game, an A-10 Tournament record -- extended St. Bonaventure's lead to 17.

From there, the Spiders chipped away at their deficit, using an 11-0 run to cut the deficit to six and drawing even closer when Khwan Fore made a layup and was fouled with 1:21 remaining. Fore's foul shot made the score 78-76 with 1:21 to go in the game. Richmond had a chance to tie the game twice in the final minutes but a turnaround jumper and three-point attempt from Nick Sherod both rolled out of the cylinder after bouncing around the rim.

After the game, Coach Chris Mooney said he was happy with how the Spiders battled back. "I'm pleased that the story of the game didn't end at Mobley's 3s. We got the deficit down to 2 and had a fighting chance," said Mooney.

Khwan Fore finished with a career-high 25 points and ended his season averaging 17.7 points per game while shooting 79 percent from the field over his final three games. Jacob Gilyard finished with 18 points for the Spiders and added a game-high four steals. He finished his freshman season with 89 steals, the most in a season in Spiders history and the most by any Division I freshman since Marcus Smart for Oklahoma State in 2013.

Grant Golden led Richmond with nine rebounds and added nine points to give him 498 for the season, breaking Mike Perry's program record for points by a freshman that had stood for 40 years.

When asked about his team's progress over the course of the season after the game, Mooney said "Our guys matured and learned about college basketball as the season progressed. Consistency was key."