Spiders Fall to George Mason at A-10 Tournament

Wednesday, March 8

Brooklyn, NY

2:00 PM

University of Richmond

15-18,7-11Atlantic 10

George Mason

20-12,11-7Atlantic 10

Richmond

George Mason

03/08/2023 | Men's Basketball

Box Score Thomas, Burton, Grace Postgame

BROOKLYN, N.Y. — The Richmond Spiders Men's Basketball season came to an end Wednesday afternoon in Brooklyn, as George Mason used a game-ending run 11-2 run to secure a come-from-behind 62-57 win in the Second Round of the Atlantic 10 Men's Basketball Championship.

Matt Grace's baseline hook shot gave Richmond a 55-51 lead with 2:08 to play, but the Spiders came up empty on their next three offensive possessions as Mason scored on a turnaround jumper in the lane and a three-pointer from the corner to retake the lead, the 13^th and final lead change in a back-and-forth game.

"I thought we did everything we needed to do to give ourselves a chance to win," said Interim Head Coach Peter Thomas. "We certainly didn't make a couple of key shots down the stretch when they did, and that probably was the difference in the game at the end."

Tyler Burton scored a game-high 23 points, including 19 in the second half. He passed Curtis Blair (1,630) for the 11^th most points in program history, finishing the season with 1,634 career points.

Neal Quinn added 17 points, shooting 8-10 from the field. He scored a game-high 12 in the first half as Richmond built a 25-21 lead at intermission.

A pair of driving layups from Andre Gustavson early in the second half gave the Spiders an eight-point lead, their largest of the game, with 16 minutes remaining. George Mason countered with a 13-0 run to take a 38-33 lead with 11 minutes to play.

Following a jumper by Quinn, Burton would score 13 of Richmond's next 14 points, giving the Spiders a 49-45 lead with just over five minutes to go.

George Mason tied the game at 51 moments later, before another Burton field goal and Grace's jump hook delivered Richmond a four-point lead entering the game's final stanza, which belonged to the Patriots.

Wednesday was Richmond's third loss to Geroge Mason this season, with all three coming by a combined margin of 11 points.

"Anytime you play a team three times, you're going to be familiar with what they do," said Thomas. "Both teams executed well defensively and made it hard for the other team to score and it ended up being a grind-it-out game."

Richmond finished the season at 15-18 overall.

"I'm so thankful for myself and for our coaching staff that we were able to coach this group of guys. This has been a really difficult situation, especially for the seniors, to go without their head coach for the last four games of the regular season and have to come up to Brooklyn to play in the Atlantic 10 Tournament without their head coach. It's not an easy situation to be in," said Thomas, referring to Head Coach Chris Mooney stepping away from the team three weeks ago to undergo heart surgery. "But I'm really thankful that our staff was able to coach these guys, because they poured everything into trying to execute what we were trying to do. They really came together."