Golden powers Spiders to road win at Wofford

Wednesday, December 1

Spartanburg, SC

7:00 PM

University of Richmond

4-4,0-0Atlantic 10

Wofford

5-3,0-0SoCon

Richmond

Wofford

12/02/2021 | Men's Basketball

Box Score

SPARTANBURG, S.C. – Grant Golden made sure the Spiders got off a solid start Wednesday at Wofford. And then he made sure they finished.

Golden dominated the beginning and end of the game, scoring Richmond's first six points and then making the Spiders biggest field goals of the game on back-to-back possessions in the final two minutes after Wofford narrowed an 18-point deficit to just two.

Golden finished with a game-high 21 points, connecting on 10 of his 15 shots from the field and adding four assists.

"The only thing I was thinking was to get to something that I knew that I could make," said Golden of his mindset when the Spiders called his number on back-to-back possessions after a 15-5 Wofford run narrowed Richmond's lead to 64-62 with 2:25 remaining. "They didn't send a double so I knew I was going to have one-on-one and I got to what I wanted."

"Those were two gigantic baskets," said Mooney of Golden's two late field goals. "It feels like it's going to happen, that the game is going to tighten up on the road, especially when it did. And then he was able to make those two huge baskets."

Jacob Gilyard was the only other Spider to score in double figures, registering 13 points to go with seven rebounds and four assists. He intercepted a Wofford pass with 14:37 remaining in the 1^st half to record his 385^th career steal, tying the NCAA Division I record for career steals, which had been held solely by Providence's John Linehan since 2002.

Richmond shot 62 percent from the field (28-45) and 44 percent from three-point range (8-18) and held Wofford's leading scorer Max Klesmit, the reigning Southern Conference Player of the Week, to six points on 2-13 shooting.

"He's a big-time shooter, a big-time scorer," said Mooney of Klesmit. "We really, really tried to make sure that we made it as hard as possible for him."

Wofford threw the ball inside early and often, building an early 12-6 lead with all six of their field goals coming in the paint. But Richmond responded with a 13-0 run which was capped off by a transition layup and a three-pointer from Connor Crabtree, part of his eight points in the 1^st half.

"[Crabtree]'s a great shooter and the more and more comfortable he is playing -- because he's been off for so long -- and the more comfortable he is with what we're doing the better because he can really shoot and create," said Mooney of Crabtree, who was sidelined the entire 2019-20 season with injuries while sitting out after transferring from Tulane and missed the final 15 games of the 2020-21 season with a foot injury.

Richmond took its first double-digit lead just before halftime when Gilyard swished a step-back three-pointer, his third of the opening 20 minutes.

The Spiders lead ballooned to 53-35 when Dji Bailey cut to the basket and laid in a pass from Golden with 11:24 to play. But Wofford answered from long range, making all five of its three-pointers in the second half in a six-minute span to shrink Richmond's lead to 64-40 with three minutes to play. Moments later, an offensive putback by the Terriers made the score 64-62 and forced a Richmond timeout.

After the timeout, Richmond got the ball to Golden, who converted on a dive to the basket and then scored on a baseline spin move in the post. Moments later, Tyler Burton drove hard to the baseline, made a layup at the rim and was fouled, a three-point play that extended Richmond's lead to 71-64 and sealed the game for the Spiders.

With the win, Richmond improved to 5-0 all-time vs Wofford. UR has now won ten straight games vs team currently in the Southern Conference.

The Spiders road trip will continue Sunday at Northern Iowa. Tip-off is scheduled for 2 PM ET and the game will be broadcast on ESPN Plus.