Spiders Spin Past Fordham Behind Tyne, Neskovic

Saturday, February 15

Robins Center

6 PM

University of Richmond

9-17,4-9Atlantic 10

Fordham

11-14,3-9Atlantic 10

Fordham

Richmond

Mikkel Tyne reaches backwards to drop off a pass to center Mike Walz

02/15/2025 | Men's Basketball

Box Score Mooney, Tyne Postgame Instant Highlights

RICHMOND, Va. — Dusan Neskovic and Mikkel Tyne combined for 33 second-half points as Richmond defeated Fordham 70-66 at the Robins Center Saturday. The win was Richmond's seventh straight in the series and UR's 21^st victory in its last 22 meetings with Fordham.

"I'm happy for our guys. Obviously, we've put a lot of work into it and we haven't had as many results as we'd like," said Spider coach Chris Mooney. "I'm pleased that we played tough enough and well enough and made some adjustments to be able to win."

Neskovic led Richmond with 23 points and seven rebounds on a night he and teammate B. Artis White were honored for reaching 1,000 career points in a pre-game ceremony. It was his team-high sixth 20-point game of the season.

Tyne added 19 points, his most ever in an Atlantic 10 game, along with five rebounds, two assists, and two steals. He also played the largest role on Richmond in handling Fordham's constant efforts to hound the ball, repeatedly beating his man up the court and at the top of the key to find lanes driving to the basket.

"I thought [Mikkel] managed the game," said Mooney. "He's improving and getting better. He gets a lot of a lot of attention from me and the coaches not only because of the value of the position but also his potential. Today they really wanted to pressure him and he was really effective at getting by his man and getting himself shots and dropping a couple off for layups."

"After that VCU game, that really just didn't sit well with me," said Tyne. "I just stayed in the gym and shot on our shooting gun at night and that's basically what got me going."

Richmond has now won two of its last three home games following a three-game home losing streak. UR is 9-17 on the season and 4-9 in the Atlantic 10.

"What keeps us going is really Coach Mooney," said Tyne. "He's hard on us every day, so that keeps us going. And I think as a group, we think we're good. I think we go out there and think that we can win every game and that really helps us too."

The Spiders couldn't have started any worse, as Fordham opened the game with a 12-2 run over the first six minutes. Richmond missed its first six shots from the field before Ryan Soulis scored on an offensive putback.

Richmond eventually found its rhythm, as Collin Tanner provided a spark off the bench with a pair of layups in traffic as part of a 7-0 Spiders run. Shortly thereafter, Tyne hit Richmond's first three-pointer of the night to cap an 8-0 Richmond spurt and give UR its first lead of the game at 23-21 with 4:20 to play in the first half. The Spiders held a 27-26 lead at intermission.

Richmond led for all but 19 seconds of the second half, but never put the Rams firmly out of reach. Fordham's Japhet Medor scored 20 of his game-high 24 points after halftime, the final three coming on a late heave with 1 second remaining.

Moments earlier, Fordham had a chance to tie the game but Mike Walz smashed Jackie Johnson III's layup attempt to the floor to preserve Richmond's 66-63 edge with 11 seconds to play.

Chris Mooney's 21 wins vs Fordham are now tied with George Washington for his most vs any opponent during his 20 seasons at Richmond.

The Spiders will play a pair of road games in Philadelphia next week, visiting La Salle Wednesday at 7 PM and Saint Joseph's Saturday at 12:30 PM. Saturday's matchup will air on USA Network.