Spiders Fall To #18 Auburn In Legends Classic Championship

Tuesday, November 26

Brooklyn, NY

7:30 PM

University of Richmond

5-1,0-0Atlantic 10

Auburn

7-0,0-0SEC

Auburn

Richmond

Spiders Fall To #18 Auburn In Legends Classic Championship

11/26/2019 | Men's Basketball

Box Score

BROOKLYN, N.Y. – The Richmond Spiders were unable to overcome a poor showing from three-point range and a major disadvantage at the free-throw line Tuesday night at the Barclays Center, falling to 18^th-ranked Auburn 79-65 in the championship of the Legends Classic.

The Spiders opened the game on an 11-5 run, capping their opening spurt with a three-pointer from Nick Sherod at the 16:33 mark of the first half. Auburn scored 16 of the game's next 20 points to take a 21-15 advantage midway through the opening period as the Tigers capitalized on six early Spiders turnovers.

But Richmond's bench responded, as subs Andre Gustavson, Sal Koureissi, and Tyler Burton combined for 10 points to get Richmond back level with the Tigers. The Spiders took a 35-34 lead into the lockerroom when Jacob Gilyard hit a runner from the wing as the clock expired, the third time Gilyard has scored just before the halftime horn this season.

Auburn raced out of the locker room, using a 15-4 run to take the game's first double-digit lead at 49-39 with 14 minutes remaining. Nick Sherod's three-pointer at the 10:38 mark of the second half snapped a streak of 13 straight misses from three-point range for the Spiders and narrowed Auburn's lead to seven, but Richmond couldn't come any closer, falling to the Tigers 79-65 for its first loss of the season.

Auburn made 22 of its 31 free-throw attempts – the most free-throw attempts by a Spiders opponent since November 22, 2017 vs Louisiana – while Richmond took just nine shots from the foul line, making seven.

The Spiders, who entered the game hitting 45 percent of their three-pointers, made just 2 of 18 from three-point range on Tuesday (11 percent).

Grant Golden led all Spiders with 14 points and added six rebounds, tied with Nathan Cayo for the most on the team. Jacob Gilyard recorded four of Richmond's seven assists while adding three steals and 12 points.

Golden and Gilyard were both named to the Legends Classic All-Tournament Team following the game.

Richmond will return to action Saturday at 2:30 PM against Boston College. The game, which will be nationally televised from the Robins Center on NBC Sports Network, tips at 2:30 PM.