Spiders squeeze out a win over Fordham

The University of Richmond men’s basketball team eked out a 70-66 victory in a clash with Fordham University in the Robins Center Feb. 15. 

Winners of six straight against the Rams, UR’s streak looked to be in danger early, as cold 0/5 shooting from the Spiders allowed the Rams to near a double-digit lead after four minutes of play.

Redshirt first-year forward Ryan Soulis’ tip-in shot opened the scoring for the Spiders, beginning the climb back from an 8-0 deficit. Graduate guard B. Artis White and graduate forward Dusan Neskovic, each having received pregame honors for reaching 1,000 career points, supplied UR’s next two baskets, but the Rams offense continued to nurse their eight point lead.

Four points from sophomore guard Collin Tanner helped pace a 7-0 UR run as the Spiders started to clamp the frenetic Rams’ offense. 

Shots continued to fall for the Spiders down the stretch as they held the Rams to 3/14 shooting from the field in the final ten minutes of the half. Contributions for UR came from everywhere, and kept the Rams’ defense off-balance. With his 3-pointer to give UR its first lead of the night at 4:16 to play, sophomore guard Mikkel Tyne became the seventh different scorer in a six minute stretch for the Spiders.

Entering halftime with a 27-26 lead, the Rams shot-for-shot efforts continued into the second frame, never quite allowing the Spiders to pull away. Tanner and Neskovic managed to push UR’s lead to 42-35 after six minutes of back-and-forth, but the Rams closed within one possession less than a minute after.

The Spiders continued to lead as the game wound to a close, although twice more allowed the Rams to nearly come back from six points down. Neskovic and Tyne paced UR through this stretch, each finishing with 19 points, and seven and five rebounds respectively.

“I thought [Tyne] managed the game… one of his better games tonight for sure.” UR Head Coach Chris Mooney said in a postgame press conference. “We weren’t perfect by any means down the stretch, but we did some things very well; we didn’t turn the ball over, and held on for the win.”

Surviving a late scoring drought and a flurry of points from the Rams, the Spiders’ 70-66 victory saw them overtake the Rams in the Atlantic 10 standings, rising to No. 15 in the conference with a 4-9 mark, and sitting at 9-17 overall.

UR will be back in action Feb. 22 at 12:30 p.m. for the first of a pair of road games in Philadelphia, Pa., taking on La Salle University.

Contact sports editor Scott Valentine at scott.valentine@richmond.edu