Spiders fall in overtime at George Mason

Wednesday, February 9

Fairfax, VA

7:00 PM

University of Richmond

16-9,7-5Atlantic 10

George Mason

12-10,5-4Atlantic 10

OT 1

Richmond

George Mason

02/09/2022 | Men's Basketball

Box Score

FAIRFAX, Va. – Richmond's frantic comeback attempt fell short Wednesday in Northern Virginia, as the Spiders dropped an 87-84 decision to George Mason in overtime. Richmond trailed by seven with 90 seconds remaining in OT but fought all the way to the final buzzer, when Andre Gustavson's last-second three-pointer bounced off the rim.

The Spiders had a chance to put the Patriots away in regulation, after four straight points from Tyler Burton gave Richmond a 70-67 lead with 1:48 remaining. But after getting a stop, the Spiders committed a shot-clock violation on the following possession. With 40 seconds remaining, Mason's D'shawn Schwartz buried a deep three-pointer with a hand in his face to tie the game at 70.

"I thought we had them in a good spot," said Richmond coach Chris Mooney on the end of regulation. "I thought we were able to defend their action well and make it a little bit difficult for them and [Schwartz] hit a big shot. If they don't make that shot … we're really in charge at the end of the game."

Following Schwartz's game-tying three-pointer, Jacob Gilyard raced the length of the court and found himself alone at the rim, making a layup to give the Spiders a 72-70 lead with 38 seconds remaining.

Mason countered with a post move and bucket by Josh Oduro, and when Gilyard found Burton under the basket in the final seconds of regulation he was unable to get off a clean shot, sending the game to overtime at 72-72.

The Patriots used a 9-0 run to take control of the game in the extra period, building an 83-76 lead with 1:29 left. But Richmond used a pair of free throws from Gilyard and a three-pointer from Matt Grace to close the gap to 83-81. Following a pair of Mason free throws, Andre Gustavson hit from three-point range with 25 seconds to play to make the score 85-84 in favor of Mason.

Again, Mason converted at the free throw line to regain some breathing room, giving Richmond the ball back down three with 12 seconds to play. Burton's contested three-pointer wouldn't fall, and Mason secured the rebound and seemingly the win.

But the officials ruled that Mason had committed an offensive foul by running into Burton with 0.7 seconds still on the clock, giving Richmond the ball in the frontcourt. Grace's crosscourt inbounds pass found Gustavson, but his potential game-tying three-pointer rimmed off as the buzzer sounded.

The loss ended Richmond's three-game win streak and was the Spiders first defeat in their last five games on the road.

Grant Golden led UR with 23 points and eight rebounds, the 33^rd 20-point effort of his career. Burton added 15 points while Gilyard finished with 13 and tied a career-high with 11 assists for his sixth career double-double.

George Mason shot 14-34 (41.2 percent) from three-point range, the most three-point field goals by a Spiders opponent since Vanderbilt made 15 on November 14, 2019.

"They made a lot of threes and they've done that against teams, especially at home," said Mooney. "They're aggressive and they're comfortable shooting threes. They made a couple deep ones in the first half. That's a little bit of what they do."

The game was the second between the teams in 48 hours, following the Spiders 62-59 win over the Patriots in Richmond on Monday.

The Spiders will return to the Robins Center on Saturday against La Salle. Game time is scheduled for 6 PM and the contest will be broadcast on NBC Sports Washington Plus/Philadelphia Plus and ESPN Plus.