Fordham saw a 15-point lead and a 10-game home winning streak disappear at the hands of Richmond.
ShawnDre’ Jones scored a game-high 35 points and Marshall Wood added 29 to lead the Spiders to a 93-82 victory over the Rams on Jan. 10 at Rose Hill Gym. Wood, whose previous season-high was 18, scored 22 in the first half, making six three-pointers.
“That’s exactly what Richmond does,” said Fordham coach Jeff Neubauer. “They spread the floor, they have terrific passers, their assist to turnover ratio in every game is terrific, and they had a good plan as far as exposing our defense.”
Although Fordham has held most opponents to less than 70 points per game, Richmond had a feeling they could do some damage.
“We kind of had an idea,” Wood said. “They kind of play a sporadic run and jump zone type zone. So we knew areas would be open.”
It was a rare shootout for Fordham. The Rams shot 60 percent from the field and had four players in double-digits. Thomas Mandell led the Rams with 22 points and Ryan Rhoomes had 18.
Jones, Wood, Terry Allen, and T.J. Cline combined for all 93 Richmond points. Trey Davis didn’t take a single shot but dished out 11 assists without turning the ball over.
“You just don’t see that very often for any player at any level,” said Richmond coach Chris Mooney on Davis’ performance. “Eleven assists, four steals, no turnovers. I thought he was in the running for player of the game, a guy that didn’t even score.”
The Rams led 32-17 but the Spiders ended the half on a 30-7 run. Trailing 60-49, Fordham scored 12 straight points to regain the lead but Richmond (9-6, 1-2) answered back with an Allen layup and a Jones 3-pointer. Richmond led 82-78 when Wood hit a corner three to beat the shot clock with 1:24 remaining, further thwarting a Rams’ comeback attempt.
“It was a four-point game with under two minutes, and we got everything we wanted out of that possession, except he made a three with one on the shot clock,” Neubauer said. “Our effort was terrific on that possession. He’s a tall shooter and he’s hard to guard.”
After a 9-2 start, the Rams (10-4, 1-2) have lost two of its first three conference games. Still, that’s no need to hit the panic button if you asked their coach.
“I just think every game is unique,” Neubauer said. “When you play against an offensive juggernaut like Richmond is, there are going to be certain nights where they shoot the ball well, and they do that on a lot of afternoons or nights. Every game is unique, this isn’t a trend or anything, it’s just that Richmond played well and they deserve a lot of credit.”
