Spiders Hit 20-Win Mark With Late Free Throws

Saturday, February 24

Robins Center

6:00 PM

University of Richmond

20-7,12-2Atlantic 10

Davidson

15-12,5-9Atlantic 10

Davidson

Richmond

Jordan King looks down at the ball in his hands before a free throw attempt

02/24/2024 | Men's Basketball

Box Score Mooney, Hunt Postgame Instant Highlights

RICHMOND, Va. — Jordan King was fouled on a three-point attempt with 2.7 seconds remaining in a tie game Saturday at the Robins Center. King, an 82 percent free throw shooter, made all three shots to provide Richmond's margin of victory in a 66-63 win vs Davidson that moved the Spiders to 20-7 overall and 12-2 in the Atlantic 10 this season.

It was a fitting end to a game in which Richmond found much of its late offensive production at the charity stripe, going 8-9 from the foul line in the final two minutes but managing just one field goal in the game's final eight minutes against a determined Davidson defense.

"I don't think we had our best game, and that's 100 percent because of Davidson," said Spiders coach Chris Mooney after securing his eighth 20-win season in 19 years at Richmond. "But we executed and made free throws down the stretch."

Richmond led for nearly 34 minutes, but never by double digits. Davidson came back to erase an eight-point Spiders lead in the first half, a nine-point Spiders lead in the second half, and a seven-point Spiders lead late in the second half, after a jumper by Neal Quinn made the score 58-51 with 4:28 remaining.

"I thought we might be able to pull away, but they just make it very difficult," said Mooney. "They're so solid. I thought we cut and moved very well and the ball moved very well but sometimes you're just cutting and moving and you're still being guarded."

Davidson used a 6-0 run to cut Richmond's lead to 58-57 with two minutes remaining. They tied the game at 63 with 14 seconds to play on a three-pointer by Bobby Durkin before King was fouled and made the game-winning free throws.

King finished with a team-high 15 points, while DeLonnie Hunt added 14 points, including 11 in the second half.

"Delonnie was great. The drives that he had in the second half … he was so aggressive," said Mooney. "He was creative tonight. He's so fast that his change of speed is very effective."

Quinn scored 12 points, while Isaiah Bigelow had nine. Bigelow's first field goal, a three-pointer at the 10:14 mark of the first half, gave him 1,000 points in his collegiate career.

Richmond missed nine of its final 10 shots from the field, but still managed to win its fourth straight game vs Davidson.

"You learn that you can weather the storm," said Hunt. "Everything not going well, not the best shooting night for us … but still finding a way to win, especially on your home floor. You'd rather learn from wins than learn from losses."

Richmond remains in first place in the A-10 standings at 12-2 and clinched a top-four seed and a double bye in the upcoming A-10 Championship.

"To clinch that with all these games to play is pretty significant, pretty impressive," said Mooney. "But we know we have work to do and we have some things we want to try to accomplish."

The Spiders improved to 13-1 on their home court this season in front of a capacity crowd of 7,201, Richmond's fourth sell-out this season, including its upcoming home game vs VCU.

"It's just amazing, especially after the last home game was such a stinker, for them to come back and show their support and really will us to this win," said Hunt. "It wouldn't be the same game without them."

Richmond will return to action Wednesday at Saint Louis. The game will tip at 8 PM and be broadcast on ESPN Plus.