Richmond buried 17 3-pointers, including 10 in the second half alone, in an 81-78 victory over the Saint Louis Billikens Tuesday night in Atlantic 10 Conference men’s basketball action at the Robins Center in Richmond, Virginia.
The Billikens fall to 18-10 and 10-5 in the A-10. The Spiders (14-14, 7-8 A-10) were playing their first game since longtime head coach Chris Mooney announced last week that he would miss the rest of the season due to heart surgery.
Javonte Perkins led the Billikens with a season-high 28 points on 10-of-16 shooting. He drilled four 3-pointers as well.
Yuri Collins came into the game needing 10 assists to break his own single-season school record, and he finished with 17. He now has a school-record 275 assists this season, bettering the previous school record of 267 he set last year.
Gibson Jimerson, who came into the game averaging 22.2 ppg over his last five games, continued his hot streak, making his first three 3-pointers and five of his first six shots from the field en route to 19 points in his hometown.
The Spiders put four players in double figures, led by Tyler Burton’s 20 points. Jason Nelson scored 17 points, including a banked-in trey in the final 30 seconds to help the Spiders secure the win.
The Billikens fell despite shooting 53.3 percent from the field. However, Richmond shot 63 percent from 3-point range (10-16) in the second half to post the win.
SLU got 3-pointers from Jimerson and Perkins at the outset to open up a 6-0 lead. The Spiders responded with a pair of treys of their own to knot the score at 6-all. Jimerson then sparked an 11-0 run, scoring eight points in the rally. The Billikens had several more 8-0 runs in the opening half and led by nine at the break, 36-27.
Perkins’ trey at the 13:51 mark of the second half put the Billikens on top by 12 at 53-41, but Richmond used the 3-pointer to climb back into the game. The Spiders trimmed their deficit to three at 8:11, but Collins responded with a clutch 3-point play and SLU led by six, 63-57, with 7:46 remaining, only to see Richmond answer with a pair of treys by Burton and just like that the score was tied 63-63 with 6:50 to go.
Out of a timeout, the Billikens scored seven straight points on baskets by Javon Pickett, Collins and Perkins. But the resilient Spiders continued to drain treys as the Bills were never able to pull away.
Richmond grabbed its first lead of the game with 1:10 left as Nelson scored the Spiders’ final six points. The Billikens had the ball with a chance to tie late, but 3-pointers by Jimerson and Perkins were off the mark and Richmond escaped with the come-from-behind win.
The Billikens return to Chaifetz Arena to host Loyola Chicago on Saturday. Game time on CBS Sports Network is 5 p.m.
