Richmond knocked down four threes in the first six minutes to pace a dominating 86-55 win over the visiting Duquesne Dukes on Wednesday night in the Robins Center.
The Spiders (11-9, 4-3) finished with 13 threes, shooting 53.6 percent from the field against a Duquesne (6-13, 1-7) team that never threatened after falling behind 20-5.
Three players scored in double figures led by the career-best effort of ShawnDre’ Jones. Jones scored 27 points on eight field goals, four threes, and a 7-of-8 stretch from the foul line. Jones has played well in the Atlantic 10 season, making 22 assists and just three turnovers in the last seven games. He leads the A-10 with his 3.2 assist-to-turnover ratio.
Senior Kendall Anthony was honored before the game for becoming the program’s all-time three-point leader, and he responded with 16 points on four long balls. Terry Allen reached double figures for the seventh time in the last eight games, scoring 11 points. T.J. Cline made a career-best seven assists while scoring seven points with six boards, and Trey Davis grabbed nine rebounds.
Richmond’s bench came up big as the Spiders never let the Dukes climb back into the game in the second half. UR had a season-high 46 bench points led by ShawnDre’ Jones’ 27 and Alonzo Nelson-Ododa’s line of eight points and seven rebounds.
Josh Jones came off the bench and logged 16 minutes and scored a career-high eight points.
“Obviously I thought we played really well,” head coach Chris Mooney said. “We shot the ball very well but we defended extremely well. They’re a very good 3-point shooting team and I don’t think they had too many wide-open opportunities. Offensively, we shared the ball really well, turning down a few good looks for great looks and attacking the zone as well as a team.”
The Spiders, who rank seventh in the country for fewest turnovers, only coughed up the ball nine times, and also went 13-of-14 from the free throw line. UR won the rebounding battle, 37-27, with eight offensive boards. Richmond is now averaging 72.4 points per game in A-10 play for an average margin of +9.4.
The Dukes entered the game as one the league’s best three-point shooting teams, but Richmond held them to just 6-of-19 from deep (31.6 percent). No Duquesne player reached double digits and UR converted 13 turnovers into 29 points.
Richmond grabbed momentum early by knocking down threes due to great ball movement against the Duquesne zone. The Spiders hit four threes in the first six minutes to build a 20-5 lead. DU’s 6-3 run cut Richmond’s lead to just 23-11, but that would be the closest that the Dukes came the whole game.
An 11-2 Spider run made it 37-15 at the 6:41 mark, and Richmond held a 49-27 lead at halftime, the most points in a first half for the Spiders this season. The Spiders are now 11-2 when leading at the half.
UR never let up in energy in the second half and by the four-minute mark, reserves Joe Kirby, John Moran and Zach Chu entered the game. Chu’s three-pointer from NBA range off Kirby’s assist sent the Robins Center and the Spider bench into a frenzy, punctuating the 86-55 victory.
The Spiders now turn their attention to their cross-town rivals, the No. 14 VCU Rams.
“We really embrace this rivalry,” Mooney said. “We recognize how great the atmosphere is going to be. I think rivalries are one of the best parts about college basketball.”
The first of two games in the Bank of America Capital City Classic will be on Saturday afternoon at 2 p.m. at VCU’s Seigel Center. The game will be broadcast on ESPN2.
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