Late Misfires Cost Spiders vs Davidson

Saturday, March 9

Robins Center

6:00 PM

University of Richmond

12-19

Davidson

23-8

Davidson

Richmond

03/09/2019 | Men's Basketball

Box Score PHOTO GALLERY COACH MOONEY POSTGAME

UNIVERSITY OF RICHMOND, Va. – Richmond held a lead against Davidson for more than 35 straight minutes Saturday at the Robins Center, but costly misses down the stretch combined with clutch shooting from a pair of Davidson standouts sent the Spiders to a 73-69 loss Saturday evening in their final game of the regular season.

The Spiders took control of the game quickly, as Grant Golden and Andre Gustavson combined to score Richmond's first 12 points as UR took a 12-3 lead and forced a Davidson timeout. The Wildcats rallied behind A-10 Player of the Year frontrunner Jon Axel Gudmundsson and preseason All-Conference selection Kellan Grady, however, to tie the game at 15 at the under-12 media timeout.

Richmond responded a short while later with a 10-2 stretch that was capped by a three-pointer from Jacob Gilyard with 4:20 to play in the first half to give the Spiders a 34-23 advantage, their largest of the game. Davidson closed the gap to four at halftime, going into the locker room trailing the Spiders 36-32.

The Spiders extended their lead back to double digits in the second half and led by 10 when a layup by Jacob Gilyard made the score 59-49 with 9:18 remaining in the game. But Davidson scored 14 of the game's next 18 points to tie the score at 63 with 2:35 to play.

Gilyard answered with a three-pointer, but freshman Luka Brajkovic scored five straight points for Davidson, the last coming on a tip-in with 45 seconds remaining to give the Wildcats their first lead since 3-2. From there, Gudmundsson kept Davidson ahead, controlling the ball and making five of his six free-throw attempts to seal the win.

The Spiders made just two of their final 10 field goal attempts, with Gilyard accounting for both Richmond baskets in the game's final eight minutes. He finished with 17 points and six assists to finish the regular season averaging 17.9 points in A-10 games this season, best in the conference.

Golden finished with 20 points and six rebounds, leading the Spiders in both categories. In the first half, he broke UR's all-time leading scorer Johnny Newman's record for most career points by a Spider through the end of his sophomore season when he registered the 1,045th point of his Richmond career.

Richmond will be the 11 seed in this week's A-10 Championship at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, N.Y. The Spiders will face Fordham in the tournament's opening round on Wednesday at 3:30 PM. The game will be broadcast on ESPN Plus.