RICHMOND, Va. — The Richmond Spiders outscored Duquesne 12-2 in the final five minutes to beat the Dukes 63-61 Tuesday evening and stretch their win streak to seven. The Spiders took their first lead of the second half with 14 seconds to play on a driving layup by Dji Bailey and held on through a chaotic final stanza, securing their longest single-season win streak since the 2010-11 season.
"What a nice play," said Spiders coach Chris Mooney of the game-winning field goal. "Jordan King, a really high-level scorer, is calm enough to throw it back to Dji, who's calm enough to not shoot and drive in there and make a nice basket. That is experience. That is confidence and playing together. That's teamwork. That's a lot of really great things, and that helps you win in a game where we didn't play our best."
"I was just being patient. I saw the lane open up so I just drove," said Bailey.
With fouls to give following Bailey's basket, the Spiders intentionally fouled Duquesne's Jimmy Clark as he crossed half court with six seconds to play. They tried again seconds later, but officials ruled that Clark was beginning his drive to the rim and called a shooting foul with three seconds remaining.
Clark missed the first free throw, and intentionally missed the second, failing to hit the rim in the process. The violation gave Richmond the ball under its own basket with two seconds to play. Isaiah Bigelow was immediately fouled upon receiving the inbounds pass and went to the line to shoot one-and-one.
Despite having made four crucial free throws down the stretch, Bigelow missed the front end of the one-and-one. Duquesne grabbedq the rebound and called timeout. On the ensuing possession, the Dukes inbounded the ball to Clark streaking up the court, but his half-court heave caromed off the backboard at the final buzzer, preserving Richmond's win.
The Spiders improved to 12-5 on the season and 4-0 in the Atlantic 10, their second-best conference start since joining the league in 2001 (opened 5-0 in 2016-17). UR has won back-to-back road games following 10 straight road losses.
"I think we've proved not just to other people but have proved to ourselves that we can win on the road," said Bailey. "It's one of the toughest things to do. To be able to pull out back-to-back road wins is big for us."
To win a game where we didn't play our best, didn't shoot our best, is great," said Mooney. "It usually means you have a good team that can pull something like that off."
Richmond received big lifts from a pair of reserves in the first half. With starting center Neal Quinn sitting with two fouls, Mike Walz played 16 minutes, collecting four rebounds, two points, two blocks, and an assist in the process.
"Mike held the fort down," said Mooney. "He had a huge second-chance basket for us. He was tough and physical for us defensively."
Jason Roche came off the bench to lead Richmond with six points in the first half, including a key three-pointer with seven seconds on the clock to shrink Duquesne's halftime lead to 33-28.
"I'm so happy for him because nobody works harder," said Mooney. "I don't like to coach players to be specialists. I want to coach guys to be all-around players. And his defense, and his toughness and his alertness are excellent and a great part of our team. But the fact is he is a great shooter and when he does make shots it's really a tremendous difference."
Roche finished with 11 points, making him one of four Spiders in double figures along with Quinn (16 points), Bailey (12), and King (10).
Tuesday's game was Chris Mooney's 600th at Richmond, a milestone that was delayed after he was forced to take a medical leave at the end of last season to undergo a heart procedure.
"After last year, I'm thankful every day. Even more so," said Mooney. "I'm thankful to the Robins family, to everybody who's impacted Richmond basketball. For me to be able to be at a place that I love and cherish, it means a lot."
Mooney and the Spiders will return to action Saturday at Davidson. Tip-off is scheduled for 4 PM on ESPN Plus.