Late Run Helps Saint Joseph's Stun Spiders

Wednesday, January 23

Philadelphia, Pa.

7:00 PM

University of Richmond

7-12 (1-5 A-10)

Saint Joseph's

9-10 (2-5 A-10)

RICHMOND

Saint Joseph's

01/23/2019 | Men's Basketball

Box Score

PHILADELPHIA, Pa. – After trailing for almost the entire game, the Saint Joseph's Hawks used a 13-2 run over the final three minutes of the second half to beat the Richmond Spiders 74-70 Wednesday night in Philadelphia.

Richmond looked comfortable at the outset at Hagan Arena, where they had won five of their last six games. The Spiders pounded the Hawks down low early, using an 11-0 run to break open a tie game and take a 21-10 lead midway through the first half.

The Spiders extended their lead to as many as 15 just minutes later and took a 43-31 lead into the break. Forwards Grant Golden (16) and Nathan Cayo (10) combined for 26 points in the first half and made 10 of their 14 field-goal attempts, many at or around the rim.

The Hawks came out of the locker room and switched to a zone defense seeking to cool off the Spiders, who hit 57 percent of their shots in the opening 20 minutes. The change worked as the Hawks held Richmond to four points over an eight-minute span midway through the second half while scoring 19 of their own to take a 57-56 lead with 9:27 to play.

Trailing for the first time since the game's opening minutes, the Spiders rebounded with a three-pointer from freshman Jake Wojcik and three buckets from Cayo to build their lead back to 68-61 with just over four minutes to play.

Saint Joseph's Charlie Brown, the leading scorer in the Atlantic 10, scored six straight points to close the gap, and the Hawks drew even with the Spiders with 38 seconds remaining when a Taylor Funk three-pointer tied the score at 70.

After a timeout, Richmond went deep into the shot clock and seemed to have found what they wanted when Jacob Gilyard found Golden under the basket. But Golden's layup attempt was blocked by Funk and the officials ruled that the ball deflected off Golden's leg and out-of-bounds, giving possession to Saint Joseph's with nine seconds remaining.

Hawks freshman Jared Bynum drove into the lane and was fouled by Gilyard. With 1.6 seconds left, he sank a pair of free throws to secure the come-from-behind win.

Golden scored 24 for the Spiders and Cayo added 21. No other Spider reached double figures.

Richmond will return to action Saturday at the Robins Center against St. Bonaventure. Tip time is 6 PM and the game can be see on NBC Sports Washington and ESPN Plus.