Hawks Guard Trio Trips up Spiders at Saint Joseph’s

Wednesday, March 1

Philadelphia, PA

7:00 PM

University of Richmond

Saint Joseph's

Hawks Guard Trio Trips up Spiders at Saint Joseph’s

03/01/2023 | Men's Basketball

Box Score

PHILADELPHIA, Pa. — The Richmond Spiders Men's Basketball team had few answers for Saint Joseph's talented guard trio of Cameron Brown, Lynn Greer, and Erik Reynolds Wednesday night at Hagan Arena. St. Joe's three starting guards combined for 67 points to lead the Hawks to an 83-67 win.

"What makes them so difficult to guard is that they're really good one-on-one players, but they're really good one-on-one players that can also make threes," said Interim Head Coach Peter Thomas of the Hawks starting guards. "I thought they just broke us down too often. They got into paint and made plays for the next guy, to their credit. We just weren't good enough on the ball at times tonight."

The Spiders didn't have the offensive firepower to stay within striking distance of Saint Joseph's despite career outings from sophomore Marcus Randolph and redshirt freshman Aidan Noyes. Randolph, playing in front of a crowd of family and friends in close proximity to his hometown of Willingboro, N.J., recorded career highs in points (15), assists (six), and rebounds (four) while playing 26 minutes, also a career best.

"I thought he was one of the bright spots for us," said Thomas. "He's a really, really fierce competitor. He brings a little bit of an emotional spark to us. I thought we needed that a little bit tonight. He certainly provided that and made shots. He was activ. He was active in the huddles. It was really good to see him have a game like that."

Randolph's 15 points were tied with senior Neal Quinn for the most among Spiders. Quinn recorded the 1,000^th point of his collegiate career early in the second half, going up and under for a basket along with a drawn foul. Quinn's free throw with 17:27 to play gave him exactly 1,000 points for his career.

Noyes, who had never played more than 5:15 in a game entering Wednesday, checked into the game with 8:48 to play in the first half and made an immediate impact. He made a three-point shot, hit a pair of free throws, and had a highlight-reel putback dunk while playing the remainder of the half. He added a pull-up jumper in the second half to finish with a career best nine points in 22 minutes.

"I'm really proud of Aidan," said Thomas. "I thought he was super confident out there for not having played a lot of meaningful minutes this year. He's played excellent in practice the last few weeks. He's really a guy that has gotten better throughout the year. We felt like he's earned a chance to go in there."

A layup from Quinn cut Saint Joseph's lead to 32-28 1:29 before halftime, but Reynolds closed the first-half with a three-pointer right before the buzzer and opened the second-half with another three-pointer to push Saint Joseph's lead to 10 at 38-28 with 18:58 to play.

Richmond wasn't able to get any closer than six points during the remainder of the game, falling to 14-16 on the season and 7-10 in the Atlantic 10.

The Spiders finished 7-27 from three-point range, with Randolph accounting for four of the makes on six three-point attempts.

"We didn't want to get into a three-point shooting contest, but at the same time a lot of times against zone those are the best looks you get," said Thomas. "I don't think we did a good enough job getting the ball into the high post or getting the ball down low to get the ball back out against the zone. Although we got some open looks we didn't make, I thought they weren't looks that came from going inside out. I thought we bounced the ball around the perimeter a little too much."

Richmond's final regular season game is Saturday at 12:30 p.m. vs George Mason at the Robins Center. The contest will be nationally televised on USA Network.

The 2023 Atlantic 10 Championship will start on Tuesday at Barclays Center in Brooklyn and run through March 12.

"If we can put a game together where we get a little bit more of a normal game from a couple other guys and then you're getting contributions from Marcus and Aidan like that, that could be a real positive for us down the stretch," said Thomas.