Richmond defeated #16 Dayton, 69-64, on Saturday at the Robins Center, the Spiders’ 10th straight win.
UR (15-5, 7-0 A-10) moves into sole possession of first place in the A-10 with the win.
Dayton (16-3, 6-1 A-10) had come into the game on a 13-game winning streak.
“A great college basketball atmosphere, and a great game,” Spiders coach Chris Mooney said, after leading his team to a win over a ranked opponent for the 16th time during his tenure at Richmond.
With the win, UR equaled its win total and conference win total from last season (15-18, 7-11 A-10).
Jordan King led Richmond with 17 points, while Isaiah Bigelow contributed a career-high 15 rebounds to go with his 12 points, nine of them coming from the foul line (9-of-10).
Dji Bailey scored 12 points, DeLonnie Hunt added 10, and Neal Quinn had 11 along with a team-high four assists, as all five Spiders starters reached double figures.
Richmond is 11-0 at home this season, the longest single-season home win streak in program history.
The Spiders held Dayton to a season-low 34 percent shooting from the field (20-of-59) and limited the Flyers to their third-fewest points in a game this season.
“The crowd was another defender on the floor for us. That was amazing,” said Spiders center Neal Quinn.
Dayton opened the game on a 9-0 run as Richmond missed its first 11 shots from the field, but both teams would slog their way through the opening 20 minutes.
Quinn found King on a cut to the basket for a layup to start a 7-0 Spiders run, then three straight field goals by Quinn tied the game at 13 with less than four minutes left in the opening half.
A 7-0 run gave Richmond a 20-15 lead at half after UR held Dayton to just three field goals and six points in the final 14 minutes of the opening frame.
Both teams found an offensive rhythm after halftime, with Dayton using a 7-0 run to retake the lead at 32-29 with 14:54 remaining. With Quinn and Dayton’s All-Conference center DaRon Holmes sidelined by foul trouble, neither team was able to break the game open using a variety of small-ball lineups.
Later in the half, with Quinn back in the game, the Spiders scored seven straight to take a 56-47 lead with 3:22 to play. Dayton answered with a six-point possession, with Holmes making a free throw and then a three-pointer after the Flyers rebounded his second attempt from the line.
When the Spiders were called for a five-second violation on the ensuing inbounds attempt, Dayton drove and was fouled, tacking on two more free throws.
With their momentum gone, the Spiders turned to King, who entered the game second in the A-10 in scoring behind Holmes, who was switched onto King following a screen. King drove directly at Holmes, a two-time All-A-10 Defensive Team selection, then stopped, pivoted and drained a high-arching fallaway jumper to push Richmond’s lead to 58-53 with 1:50 remaining.
Shortly thereafter, DeLonnie Hunt found Dji Bailey all alone in the frontcourt for an uncontested dunk that extended Richmond’s lead to seven with 40 seconds left. From there, the Spiders were able to close the game at the free throw line, where they made 18 of their 19 final attempts.
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Chris Graham
