Second-half comeback spurs Spiders to Senior Night win

Friday, February 25

Robins Center

7:00 PM

University of Richmond

19-10,10-6Atlantic 10

Saint Louis

19-10,10-6Atlantic 10

Saint Louis

Richmond

Second-half comeback spurs Spiders to Senior Night win

02/25/2022 | Men's Basketball

Box Score Mooney, Gilyard Postgame

RICHMOND, Va. -- Trailing 43-33 after 20 minutes, the Richmond Spiders made two major halftimes adjustments Friday vs Saint Louis: one schematic, and one intrinsic.

"We made a change to our ball-screen coverage and then we emphasized that we need to be on the floor. We need to get these loose balls. We need to be sticky and tough in the paint and I think we did all those things well in the second half," said Spiders coach Chris Mooney on what changed between the first half and second half in Richmond's 68-66 win at the Robins Center.

Minutes after honoring six graduate students and three seniors in a pregame Senior Night ceremony, the Spiders found themselves on their heels against the Billikens, particularly point guard Yuri Collins, who slipped the ball into teammate Francis Okoro for easy baskets on Saint Louis' first two possessions.

"We did something on our ball-screen coverage. Collins holds the ball so long he just puts a tremendous amount of pressure on you, and we tried to solve that and I thought we gave up a few more things," said Mooney.

Unbothered by the Spiders defense, Saint Louis made 13 of its first 16 shots from the field and built its advantage to as many as 12 points in the first half before taking a 43-33 lead into the locker room. After the game, Mooney summarized his halftime message to his team: "Sometimes [basketball] just calls for putting your body on somebody and getting a rebound in a crowd and being as tough as you possibly can on a possession."

The Spiders defense bared down in the second half, holding the Billikens to just 23 points on 7-26 shooting from the field in the final 20 minutes. Saint Louis missed its final six field goal attempts and didn't score in the final 2:45 of the game.

Offensively, the Spiders found a rhythm that eluded them in the first half. Richmond scored 12 straight points to take its first lead at 48-47 on a Nick Sherod free throw with 12:38 remaining. The Spiders found some breathing room with a 9-0 spurt that made the score 59-51 with 7:19 to go.

"Shots started to fall for a little stretch and once that happens things start to open up," said Spiders guard Jacob Gilyard. "I think we got a couple of [back-door] cuts as the game progressed."

Gilyard finished with 15 points and a team-high four steals. Tyler Burton led Richmond with 23 points and 10 rebounds, his eighth double-double of the season. Sherod came off the bench too score 13 points, hitting three of his four three-point attempts. His first made three-pointer was the 238th of his Richmond career, breaking a tie with David Gonzalvez for fourth-most in program history.

"I'm really happy for the seniors," said Mooney. "Andre Gustavson's mom was here to see him play for the first time, all the parents here. It was great. Senior Night doesn't always work out perfectly and for it to be this kind of atmosphere and this level of game and [on] ESPN, that's really great for those guys and I'm really happy for them."

The win was Richmond's fourth straight at home and its first in its last five meetings with Saint Louis. The Spiders are now 9-3 in their last 12 games following a 1-3 start to Atlantic 10 play.

Richmond will return to the Robins Center Tuesday night to take on Dayton at 6:30 PM. The game will be televised on the CBS Sports Network.