Cayo’s Career Game Leads Spiders To Win At Rhode Island

Sunday, January 5

Kingston, RI

12:00 PM

University of Richmond

12-3,2-0Atlantic 10

Rhode Island

8-5,0-1Atlantic 10

Richmond

Rhode Island

Cayo’s Career Game Leads Spiders To Win At Rhode Island

01/05/2020 | Men's Basketball

Box Score AUDIO: Coach Mooney Postgame AUDIO: Nathan Cayo Postgame

KINGSTON, R.I. – Junior forward Nathan Cayo scored a game-high 19 points and pulled down a career-best 11 rebounds to lead the Spiders to a 69-61 road win at Rhode Island on Sunday. With the victory, the Spiders improved to 12-3 this season, their best record through 15 games since 1987-88.

"I'm just so proud of how Nate played. He was terrific," said coach Chris Mooney. "The first shot he took they were playing so far off of him and he took a jumpshot that he misses. Then his next shot he misses. You could just go into a shell after that, but he did the opposite. He was so aggressive."

Richmond was able to shake off a slow start, as the Spiders made just one of their first nine shots from the field – a Cayo layup – and trailed 9-2 six minutes into the game. Back-to-back three-pointers by freshman Tyler Burton and junior Blake Francis kickstarted the Spiders, who fought back to take the lead shortly before Jacob Gilyard was forced to the bench with his second foul with just under nine minutes to play in the first half.

With Gilyard -- who averages more than 36 minutes per game this season -- on the bench, the Spiders defense dug in and Francis and Cayo stepped up, combining for 13 points during an 18-4 Spiders run to close the half. Richmond led 30-19 at intermission and held the Rams to just seven field goal on 33 attempts (21.2 percent) in the opening 20 minutes.

"That run at the end of the first half was amazing," said Mooney. "As soon as we took [Gilyard] out, I think the first thing we said is 'when are we going to put him back?' But Mooney credited the Spiders offensive production and defensive effort over the final eight minutes of the first half for allowing the team to keep Gilyard on the bench and preventing him from picking up his third foul.

With Gilyard back in the lineup, Richmond struck first in the second half, starting the period with a 7-1 spurt to go up 37-20 and force Rhode Island to take a timeout with 17:22 remaining. The Rams slowly chipped away at the Spiders lead, cutting the deficit to 55-48 with 7:18 to play, but Richmond responded with layups by Gilyard and Grant Golden to regain a double-digit lead en route to the 69-61 win.

Cayo's 19 points were his most since scoring 20 against Vanderbilt in the Spiders second game of the season, and his 11 rebounds were three more than his previous career high. Nick Sherod made three of his four shots from three-point range and finished with 13 points, snapping a career-long streak of five straight games scoring in single figures. Grant Golden finished one rebound shy of a double-double, totaling 10 points and nine rebounds to go with a team-high five assists.

Blake Francis scored 13 points but his greatest contributions came on the defensive end where he combined with Andre Gustavson to hold Rhode Island's Fatts Russell, who entered the game as the leading scorer in the A-10, to three points and just 1-12 shooting from the field. Despite the foul trouble, Gilyard recorded a pair of steals to tie Richmond Hall-of-Famer Greg Beckwith for the most steals in school history at 227.

Richmond is 2-0 in the A-10 play for the third time during Chris Mooney's tenure along with 2016-17 and 2010-11. The Spiders will look to move to 3-0 in conference play Saturday at 6 PM when they host Saint Louis in the Robins Center. The game will be shown nationally on ESPN Plus and regionally on MASN.