Marist Shoots Way Past Spiders

Saturday, November 9

Robins Center

6 PM

University of Richmond

1-1,0-0Atlantic 10

Marist

1-1,0-0MAAC

Marist

Richmond

11/09/2024 | Men's Basketball

Box Score Mooney, Hunt Postgame Instant Highlights

RICHMOND, Va. — Marist snapped Richmond's 11-game non-conference home win streak Saturday behind 14 three-pointers, the most by an opponent in a non-overtime game at the Robins Center in more than seven years.

"Sometimes it's great shooting, but when the first few are easier then you develop a little bit of a rhythm," said Spiders coach Chris Mooney of UR's defensive effort. "I feel like they felt a little too comfortable and that's something we can work on and improve upon."

Prior to Saturday, no visiting team had hit 14 three-pointers in a regulation game at the Robins Center since Davidson on Feb. 21, 2017 (14).

"You tip your hat, they hit 14 threes. But I feel like there was definitely something we could have done to at least cut that number in half," said DeLonnie Hunt, who led Richmond with a career-high 27 points. "We tried different things to switch up, but we could never really get on the same page defensively."

Hunt's 27 points were 17 more than any other Spider. He accounted for 10 of Richmond's 20 field goals.

"I thought he was really good and we didn't give him enough support," said Mooney. "He has so many things to worry about. He's a leader. He's one of our best defensive players. He's organizing our team. So when he's also asked to be so aggressive [offensively], that's a little bit too much. We need everyone to take some of that responsibility from him ... so he can be free to do all those things that he's good at."

Marist jumped to an early lead, hitting its first three shots from the field — a trio of three-pointers. Richmond's first 11 points came at the foul line before Mikkel Tyne made a pair of three-pointers on consecutive possessions to give UR a 17-12 lead. Richmond stretched its lead to as many as nine, but Marist used an 8-0 spurt to narrow UR's lead to 44-41 at the half.

The teams were tied at 56 midway through the second half, but Marist took control of the game with a 9-0 run to take a 67-59 lead with five minutes to play. After a pair of Tyne free throws closed the gap to two, Marist's Josh Pascarelli's three-pointer with 92 seconds to play, his fifth three-pointer of the game, put the game out of reach.

Richmond's loss was its first at home in non-conference play since a 56-53 setback to Wichita State on November 17, 2022.

"We need to get better at a few things and hopefully this will be something that jump starts us to doing so," said Mooney.

The Spiders will play a pair of road games next week, visiting Charlotte on November 13 and Bucknell on November 16. Prior to Saturday's contest, Richmond revealed the team's 2024 Atlantic 10 regular season championship banner in a pre-game ceremony.

"It's a long season. Of course we're disappointed," said Hunt. "You don't want to lose, especially at home, especially on a night with a banner reveal. But it's not time to drop our heads and start sulking. We're two games in. We've got at least 30 left. It's about staying on the same page, staying together, and responding to this."