Spiders Fall in Double Overtime at GW

Wednesday, February 8

Washington, D.C

7:00 PM

University of Richmond

12-13,5-7Atlantic 10

105

107

George Washington

12-12,6-5Atlantic 10

OT 1

OT 2

Richmond

105

George Washington

107

02/08/2023 | Men's Basketball

Box Score

WASHINGTON, D.C. — The Richmond Spiders fell to George Washington in a double overtime slugfest Wednesday at the Smith Center, ultimately ending up on the wrong side of 107-105 final in a game where both teams seemed to be on the verge of securing a win on multiple occasions.

Richmond trailed by seven points in the first half, overcame a pair of seven-point deficits in the second half, and was down five in the first overtime period. The Spiders rallied to take a lead at halftime, rallied to take a five-point lead in the final minute of regulation, and rallied to have a chance to win in the first overtime before finally falling in double OT.

"There were so many positive things, starting with how hard we fought," said Spiders Head Coach Chris Mooney. "We came back in the first half. We came back in second half. There are a lot of positives to take from this. I'm really proud of our effort."

The Spiders were led by Matt Grace for a second straight game. After setting a career high with 21 points in Sunday's win vs Fordham, Grace set a new career high with 28 points Wednesday evening.

"Matt was just tremendous. I thought he played a great game on Sunday and he was even better today. Just an incredible game," said Mooney.

Grace's scoring effort wasn't enough to offset GW's starting backcourt, which combined for 68 points: 35 from Brendan Adams and 33 from James Bishop.

"We have a good defensive backcourt and they were just a little bit too much for us. They both had incredible games," said Mooney.

Richmond seemed to be on its way to a win in regulation after the Spiders used a 14-2 run to turn a seven-point deficit into a five-point lead with just over a minute remaining.

But a three-pointer from Edwards cut the lead to two with 42 seconds on the clock. 16 seconds later, a high-arcing three from Bishop cut GW's deficit to one, at 80-79. Following a pair of free throws from Andre Gustavson, Bishop scored at the rim and was fouled by Gustavson, converting the And-1 to tie the game at 82 with 17 seconds left. Tyler Burton's layup attempt bounced off the rim just before the buzzer, sending the game to overtime.

"At the end of regulation, they made really, really, really hard shots," said Mooney of Bishop and Edwards. "They're super talented guards. They made extremely hard shots. They were deep. They were contested. [It's a] credit obviously to them and their level of ability."

"We scored 82 in regulation. I think we've got to win a game like that," said Grace. "Our defense has to be good enough. When we score 82 points and we're playing that well offensively, we've got to win those games."

Richmond trailed by five with less than two minutes remaining in the first overtime when Burton hit a three-pointer to cut the score to 91-89. With just over a minute left, Isaiah Bigelow nailed a three from the right wing to tie the game at 92.

After a stop on the defensive end, the Spiders worked the ball down low to Neal Quinn, who spun to the basket and attempted a left-handed layup in traffic. The ball wouldn't go down, sending the game to a second overtime, Richmond's first double OT game since January 28, 2016 (also at GW).

A pair of three-pointers from Adams sandwiched around an old-fashioned three-point play from Bishop gave George Washington a 101-94 lead in the second overtime, and the Spiders couldn't get any closer than two points down the stretch.

The loss, Richmond's first in its last seven games vs GW, dropped the Spiders to 12-13 on the season and 5-7 in the Atlantic 10.

Up next for the Spiders is a Saturday home date with Loyola Chicago, tipping at 4pm on ESPNU.

"We have to really take it easy tomorrow," said Mooney after four Spiders played 35 or more minutes Wednesday. "We'll have the guys in and watch some film and maybe walk though some things. Those guys needs to get treatment. They need to get rest. You need to concentrate as much as you can tomorrow so we can have a really great practice Friday."