Spiders Wrap Up Record-Setting Regular Season With Win at Duquesne

Friday, March 6

Pittsburgh, PA

7:00 PM

University of Richmond

24-7,14-4Atlantic 10

Duquesne

21-9,11-7Atlantic 10

Richmond

Duquesne

Spiders Wrap Up Record-Setting Regular Season With Win at Duquesne

03/06/2020 | Men's Basketball

Box Score AUDIO: Coach Mooney Post Game AUDIO: Nathan Cayo Post Game

PITTSBURGH, Pa. -- The Richmond Spiders concluded perhaps the most impressive regular-season campaign in program history with another win Friday night in Pittsburgh, defeating Duquesne 73-62 to improve to 24-7 on the season and 14-4 in the Atlantic 10. The Spiders' 24 total wins are tied with the 2009-10 and 2010-11 seasons for the program's most regular-season wins ever and Richmond's 14 Atlantic 10 wins are a new school record for conference wins in a season.

While the result was similar to many other games this season, Richmond's path to victory was a bit different as the Spiders dominated the boards by grabbing 50 rebounds, 11 more than Duquesne and the most by a Richmond team since a 2003 game vs Mississippi Valley State. Juniors Nick Sherod and Nathan Cayo led Richmond with 11 rebounds and both recorded double-doubles, the first Spiders teammates with double-doubles in a game since February 3, 2018 vs George Mason (Sherod and Grant Golden).

Early on, it looked like Duquesne would be able to control the game from the outside, as the the Dukes made their first three three-point attempts as part of an 11-4 run over the game's first four minutes. But the Spiders responded with a seven straight points to tie the game and took their first lead moments later when Cayo converted an 'And-1' to make the score 14-13 Richmond.

The Spiders would gain their first real separation late in the first half, going on a 10-1 run over the final four minutes before halftime and taking a 37-29 lead at intermission. Junior forward Grant Golden led Richmond with 10 points in the first half as a 24-6 advantage in points in the paint allowed the Spiders to overcome a 2-10 performance from three-point range over the game's first 20 minutes.

Duquesne wasn't able to close the gap on the Spiders until the midway mark of the second half when the Dukes scored five straight to shrink Richmond's lead to 50-47 with 9:35 to play. But the Spiders responded quickly as baskets by Blake Francis, Sherod, and Cayo built the lead back to 11 with fewer than eight minutes remaining in the game. The Dukes would never again get closer than seven points as Richmond coasted to its record-setting victory.

Francis finished with a game-high 21 points to lead four Spiders in double figures. Golden flirted with a triple-double, recording 13 points, seven rebounds, and eight assists, which tied his career high. Sherod's double-double (13 points, 11 rebounds) was his first of the season while Cayo's double-double (11 points, 11 rebounds) was his second of the season and of his career. His 11 rebounds matched his most ever in a game.

Gilyard finished with six steals, one shy of his career high. He extended his own Richmond single-season steals record to 99 while also recording a game-high 10 assists, matching his career best. As a team, Richmond's 23 assists were its most in a game since 2018 vs Massachusetts.

The Spiders had already clinched the second seed in next week's Atlantic 10 Championship entering the game Friday night. Richmond will open play at the A-10 Tournament in Brooklyn, N.Y. on Friday, March 13^th at 6 PM on NBC Sports Network. The Spiders will face the winner of Thursday's game between the seven seed (Davidson) and 10 seed (TBD).