Balanced Attack Leads Spiders Over La Salle

Wednesday, January 22

Robins Center

7:00 PM

University of Richmond

15-4,5-1Atlantic 10

La Salle

10-8,1-5Atlantic 10

La Salle

Richmond

01/22/2020 | Men's Basketball

Box Score

RICHMOND, Va. – The University of Richmond had nine different players score including seven with five or more points as the Spiders recorded a 75-57 victory over visiting La Salle Wednesday night at the Robins Center. The win moved the Spiders to 15-4 overall and 5-1 in Atlantic 10 Conference play heading into Saturday night's showdown against No. 7 Dayton at home.

"I'm really pleased with the win and I thought we played exceptionally well defensively," said coach Chris Mooney. "Our defense right from the beginning of the game made it tough on them to score. We contested shots. We rebounded well ... I thought our defense throughout really won us the game."

The 15-4 record marks the best record through 19 games to start a season since the 1987-88 campaign (16-3). Additionally, the Spiders are 5-1 through the first six games in A-10 play for the third time under head coach Chris Mooney and the first since 2016-17. The victory moves the Spiders to 9-1 at home this season.

Freshman Tyler Burton (Uxbridge, Mass.) recorded his second-straight double-figure scoring game in the victory, finishing the night with a career-high 14 points. Burton also grabbed a career-high nine rebounds and added two steals and a block in the all-around performance.

"He's got great basketball instincts," said Mooney of Burton. "He's a great athlete. He's an all-around player. He rebounds well. I think he has a chance to be a special player."

Junior forward Grant Golden (Winchester, Va.) added 15 points in only 17 minutes of action as he didn't play a majority of the second half with the Spiders' depth showing form. Golden connected on 6-of-6 from the field and was 3-of-5 from the free throw line in his limited action. He became the first Spider to take at least six shots from the field and make them all since Nathan Cayo went 7-7 on field goals at La Salle on February 23, 2019.

Sophomore guard Jake Wojcik (San Jose, Calif.) came off the bench and added 11 points in the second half as he connected on 3-of-4 from three-point range.

The Spiders came out of the gate and scored the game's first 10 points, holding La Salle scoreless over the first 5:47 of the contest. Golden scored the game's first four points while sophomore Matt Grace (Hamilton, Ontario) and Burton scored in the paint to cap the early run. Richmond extended its lead to 18-3 as junior guard Jacob Gilyard (Kansas City, Mo.) converted a 4-point play and Golden once again scored in the post.

After La Salle regrouped to score the next eight points, junior guard Nick Sherod (Richmond, Va.) nailed a 3-pointer and the Spiders extended their lead to as many as 16 points. Richmond went into the locker room after the first 20 minutes with a 35-19 advantage as Burton led with 10 points off the bench to go along with five rebound in 11 minutes of play.

The Spiders controlled the play in the second half keeping the Explorers at bay and withstanding the La Salle pressure late in the game. Richmond finished the game shooting 60 percent (24-of-40) from the field in the victory while limiting the Explorers to just 33 percent (19-of-58) shooting. La Salle also struggled from the free throw line, connecting on just 12-of-21 (57 percent) from the stripe.

Next up for Richmond is 7th-ranked Dayton, who will become the highest-ranked team to visit the Robins Center in 14 years this Saturday. Tip time is scheduled for 6 PM and the game can be seen on NBC Sports Washington and ESPN Plus. The last time the Spiders hosted a top-7 team was February 18, 2006, when Richmond was defeated by #7 George Washington.

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