Burton scores 26 in loss at William & Mary

By Press release submission

Dec 9, 2022

For all the great shots he hit leading the Spiders back from a 19-point deficit, Tyler Burton ultimately needed one more bucket to secure a win for Richmond at William & Mary Saturday evening. Burton's turnaround baseline fadeaway with seconds to play was off left, and during the ensuing scramble for the ball the buzzer sounded to seal the Spiders 58-57 loss to the Tribe.

"They were physical, so he didn't catch it as freely as I would have liked," said Spiders coach Chris Mooney of the final possession. "I was considering calling a timeout but sometimes when you get bumped off your drive and kind of recover the ball it's a little to your advantage because [the defenders] are reaching for the ball. Unfortunately, it wasn't quite a good enough shot for us."

Burton finished with a game-high 26 points, including 22 in the second half. Neal Quinn was the only other Spider to score in double figures, finishing with 10 points.

Richmond's loss was its first in its last six games vs William & Mary and narrowed UR's advantage to 103-98 in the all-time series, the most-played matchup in program history.

William & Mary took control of the contest with a 19-2 run over six-plus minutes towards the end of the first half that gave the Tribe a 38-19 lead 1:09 before halftime.

The Spiders defense held the Tribe to just four field goals in the first 15 minutes of the second half, outscoring William & Mary 34-11 over that span to take a 55-49 lead on a Burton three-pointer with 4:22 to play.

The Tribe answered with a 5-0 spurt to pull within one before a bucket by Quinn gave UR a 57-54 edge with 2:55 to go.

A post bucket from W&M's Ben Wight narrowed the gap to one, and an offensive putback by Wight with 20 seconds to go put the Tribe back ahead at 58-57, setting the stage for the Spiders final possession.

"I'm proud of the way we came back and fought but to be in another big deficit at halftime is just too much to overcome," said Mooney. "We have to figure out how to play much better in the first half."

Richmond will take a week-long finals break before returning to action on Saturday, December 10 against Drake at the Robins Center. Tip-off is scheduled for 2 PM and the game will be broadcast on ESPN Plus and NBC Sports Washington.