Richmond hit 16 three-pointers – tied for their most in any game in their 49 seasons in the Robins Center – in a 90-49 victory over St. Mary’s on Sunday.
Every one of Richmond’s 14 healthy players saw action as the Spiders bench combined for a season-high 46 points against the Seahawks, who compete in NCAA’s Division III.
The game was Richmond’s first since Jan. 26, ending a 19-day COVID pause for the Spiders.
Richmond started slowly, missing three of its first four shots from the field as St. Mary’s led 5-3 after two-and-a-half minutes of play. With the game tied at 10, Richmond seized control with a 27-4 run over eight minutes to take a commanding 37-14 lead.
St. Mary’s answered with a pair of three-pointers and a 6-0 spurt right before half but Jacob Gilyard’s layup seconds before the buzzer pushed UR’s lead back to 20 at 48-28 at intermission.
Richmond opened the second half with a 9-2 run and slammed the door shut shortly thereafter with a 16-0 run to make the score 73-32 with just over 10 minutes left in the game. Richmond’s starting lineup watched the last quarter of the game from the sideline as the Spiders coasted to a 90-49 win.
Richmond used a balanced scoring effort to move to 10-1 in home games vs non-conference opponents over the last two seasons as Blake Francis (Herndon, Va.) led all scorers with 17 points (7-for-12) in 18 minutes.
Jacob Gilyard (Kansas City, Mo.) finished with 11 points, four rebounds, three assists and four steals. Freshman Isaiah Wilson (Pittsburgh, Pa.) scored 10 points off the bench and reserves Dji Bailey, Matt Grace, and Andre Gustavson each scored nine.
Bailey, a freshman who entered the game with zero career points, made four of his six shots from the field and added five rebounds in 16 minutes. “He’s going to be a really good player,” said Spiders coach Chris Mooney. “He’s so fluid and skilled. He has a really good sense of how to play. He’s never in a rush.”
Richmond’s 16 three-pointers were nearly double its season high entering the game of nine in a win at Saint Joseph’s on January 26. The Spiders tied the Robins Center record for most three-pointers in a game, previously accomplished in 2019 vs McNeese State, 2013 vs Air Force, and 2012 vs Fordham.
Up next for the Spiders is a road game at VCU on Wednesday.
“I think it’s a really significant and really hard challenge,” said Mooney of the Spiders return from their nearly three-week COVID pause. “If we had been snowed out a couple of days but been together and been able to play that would have been one thing, but just to be isolated and not be able to be together and not be able to exercise … I really think it’s an incredibly challenging game ahead of us and couple of weeks ahead of us but we’re working as hard as we can to meet that challenge.”
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