Spiders Drop Seesaw Battle vs Davidson

Saturday, January 25

Robins Center

6 PM

University of Richmond

7-13,2-5Atlantic 10

Davidson

13-7,3-4Atlantic 10

Davidson

Richmond

Photo by: Keith Lucas/Sideline Media

01/25/2025 | Men's Basketball

Box Score Mooney, Walz Postgame Instant Highlights Photo Gallery

RICHMOND, Va. — Davidson forward Reed Bailey scored a game-high 32 points to lead the Wildcats to a 72-66 win over Richmond Saturday in the Robins Center. The loss dropped Richmond to 7-13 overall (2-5 in the A-10) and snapped UR's four-game win streak vs Davidson.

"When a great player who doesn't make a ton of threes makes threes that's really some trouble for you," said Spiders coach Chris Mooney of Bailey, who went 4-4 from three-point range after coming into the game with just nine made three-pointers on the year. "He was really, really good. We tried some different things but didn't have enough answers for him."

Bailey's 32 points were the most a visiting player in the Robins Center since November 14, 2019, when Vanderbilt's Aaron Nesmith scored 34.

Richmond was led by Mike Walz, who scored a career-high 17 points on 7-8 shooting from the field, all in the second half.

"Mike played well," said Mooney. "He made a three-point shot. He made a couple of very nice post moves. Mike had a really good game and hopefully he can build upon that moving forward."

Richmond led by as many as six in the first half and held a 31-28 advantage at halftime in large part to Jason Roche, who scored 11 of his 13 points in the opening period. Roche hit his first three three-point attempts, all in the game's opening six minutes.

The Spiders built their largest lead just minutes into the second half, when Walz sandwiched a pair of field goals around a jumper from Mikkel Tyne, leading to a Davidson timeout with Richmond leading 40-31 with 17:46 to play.

An 8-0 run shrunk Richmond's lead to one, and the Wildcats tied the game at 46 on a Bailey three-pointer with 12:11 remaining, the first tie since 24-24. Walz answered with a three, but a 9-2 spurt over the next five minutes games Davidson a 55-51 lead with 6:28 on the clock.

The Spiders evened the score at 55 on a free throw from Jonathan Beagle and a three-pointer from Dusan Neskovic, who finished with 16 points. Moments later Walz tied the game at 57 following a pair of Davidson free throws.

But after another Bailey field goal moved Davidson back in front, the Spiders let up a pair of three-pointers to Davidson's Bobby Durkin, the leading three-point shooter in the A-10 conference. Durkin's threes made the score 65-59 Davidson.

Richmond's comeback effort was foiled in the final minute, when the Spiders turned the ball over trailing by two with just 24 seconds remaining.

"Just some critical defensive errors," said Walz when asked what he attributed the loss to. "Things we had on the scout that we should have paid more attention to, especially in the second half. There's a couple plays out there we could have tightened up a little bit on, especially on three-point shots."

"We just have to find a way to when we're in these kinds of games make plays down the stretch and we didn't do nearly a good enough job of that tonight and that's been more than a little bit of an issue for us," added Mooney.

The game featured eight lead changes and five ties. It was Richmond's ninth loss this season by seven or fewer points, the most such losses by any team in Division I.

The Spiders play a pair of road games next week, visiting George Washington on Wednesday and VCU on Saturday for the first game of the Richmond Area Honda Dealers Capital City Classic.

"For us, a lot's on the table in terms of different lineups, different guys playing," said Mooney. "We'll meet tonight, tomorrow, and Monday and try to figure some things out."