Spiders drop Empire Classic opener to Syracuse in OT

By Press release submission

Nov 30, 2022

Faced with the opportunity to secure a signature win vs a power-conference opponent, the Richmond Spiders men's basketball team came up just short Monday night, falling to Syracuse 74-71 in overtime in the semifinals of the Empire Classic at Barclays Arena.

Isaiah Bigelow led Richmond with 17 points, his career-best third straight game with 15 or more points. Jason Nelson added 14 points and a team-high six assists, while Tyler Burton scored 13 points with 15 rebounds, the most by a Spider since January 3, 2018 (De'Monte Buckingham - 16 at Fordham). Jason Roche added 12 points on four three-pointers as Richmond made a season-high 13 shots from behind the three-point line.

"We have guys who can score and can play," said Spiders head coach Chris Mooney. "We have some depth, some really positive things. And we certainly had chances tonight. It's difficult to lose any game, but especially one you feel like you were right there and had opportunities."

The Orange stormed out of the locker room, opening the game on a 14-2 run to force a Richmond timeout with 15:05 to play in the first half. The Spiders, sparked by some strong minutes off the bench from Djimon Bailey, rallied to tie the game at 25 and then 27 before Syracuse used a 7-2 run to end the half with a 34-29 lead.

Jason Nelson opened the second half with back-to-back three-pointers to give Richmond its first lead of the game at 35-34 one minute after halftime. The teams would trade the lead 16 times over the next 13 minutes before a three-pointer from Isaiah Bigelow gave Richmond its largest lead of the game at 62-57 with 5:54 left in regulation.

But with the Spiders poised for what have been a fourth straight win against an ACC opponent, Richmond's offense faltered. The Spiders scored one point, a Tyler Burton free throw, over the final five minutes of regulation, allowing Syracuse to retake the lead. Richmond had the ball with a chance to win at the end of the second half, but turned it over to send the game to overtime with the scored knotted at 63.

"I thought we slowed down a little bit on our ball movement," said Mooney of the Spiders offense over the final few minutes of regulation.

Richmond took its only lead of overtime 35 seconds into the extra period when a three-pointer by Isaiah Bigelow made the score 66-65 in favor of the Spiders. UR missed eight straight shots down the stretch in OT before a three-pointer by Jason Nelson made the final score 74-71.

The Spiders outrebounded the taller, longer Orange 44-27, their best rebounding margin (+17) in a game since exactly seven years ago, when UR outrebounded Bethune Cookman by 18 on Nov. 21, 2015.

Richmond will face Temple in the consolation game of Empire Classic Tuesday at 7 PM on ESPN2.