Spiders Rally For Signature Win Over Saint Louis

Tuesday, February 21

Robins Center

7:00 PM

University of Richmond

14-14,7-8Atlantic 10

Saint Louis

18-10,10-5Atlantic 10

Saint Louis

Richmond

02/21/2023 | Men's Basketball

Box Score Thomas, Burton Postgame Instant Highlights

RICHMOND, Va. — Fans at the Robins Center Tuesday night were treated to an unlikely ending for a team that needed it more than ever. Playing for the first time since Head Coach Chris Mooney announced he would be stepping away from the team to undergo heart surgery, the Richmond Spiders outscored Saint Louis 16-6 over the game's final four-and-a-half minutes to beat the Billikens 81-78.

"I would call it a collective effort. I thought we got contributions from pretty much everybody that went in the game. Gritty would be a good term," said Interim Head Coach Peter Thomas following his first game as an acting head coach. "The guys just dug back in and kept fighting."

Redshirt freshman Jason Nelson, who had totaled 10 points in his last five games entering Tuesday, scored 11 points in the final 4:29 of game and finished with 17 points, his most since scoring 21 vs Northern Iowa on November 11 in the second game of the season.

"You hit a wall at some point freshman year," said Thomas. "You've got to kind of push through that wall. … I thought he did that tonight. He looked like a little bit of a different player out there tonight. I thought he just looked really confident and was aggressive and we felt really good with the ball in his hands late."

The win evened Richmond's record at 14-14 this season and moved the Spiders to 7-8 in the Atlantic 10. The Spiders are now 3-2 in their last five games following a four-game losing streak.

There were few indications the night would end with a Spiders win in the first half, as Saint Louis built a 15-point lead in the first 17 minutes before the Spiders used an 8-2 run to cut the Billikens edge to 36-27 at halftime.

The Spiders began to eat into the Saint Louis lead midway through the second half, when Richmond hit a pair of three-pointers in a five-second span (separated by a Saint Louis offensive foul on the inbounds attempt) for a quick 6-0 run to make the score 53-47 with 12:53 to play.

Burton, who drew the offensive foul that was key to kickstarting the Spiders, got going offensively shortly thereafter. He made his first three-pointer of the game with 11:16 to play, then hit threes on back-to-back possessions to tie the game at 63 with 6:50 remaining.

Saint Louis regrouped with a quick 7-0 spurt over 50 seconds to go ahead 70-63, but the Spiders had the final answer, outscoring the Billikens 18-8 over the the remainder of the contest.

Burton led Richmond with 20 points and nine rebounds, coming one rebound shy of his 23^rd career double-double. He scored 18 points in the second half.

"I just stopped looking for my shot and just let the game come to me," said Burton of his second-half effort. "Everyone kept telling me "keep shooting, keep shooting" so that's just what I did."

Richmond scored 54 points in the second half, its most in any half since scoring 55 in the second half of a 97-87 win at George Mason on Jan. 18, 2020. The Spiders were 10-16 from three-point range after halftime and finished with 17 made three-pointers, one shy of the program record set in a 2002 win vs Duquesne.

Richmond is now 12-3 at home this season and has won back-to-back games vs Saint Louis, the third-place team in the A-10 this season, for the first time since a three-game winning streak over the Billikens from 2015-17.

"Hopefully what we take from this is the belief that we can win," said Thomas. "You just don't know how it's going to be without the guy who's been here for 18 years. I think this win hopefully can just keep the belief going that we are a good team and we have a chance to win some games here down the stretch and really be playing our best basketball going into the A-10 tournament."

Up next for the Spiders is a two-game road trip that starts Friday at VCU with the Richmond Area Honda Dealers Capital City Classic. The game will tip at 7 p.m. on ESPN2.