Struggling Spiders head to Brooklyn

University of Richmond will carry a four-game losing streak into the Barclays Center in Brooklyn for the Atlantic 10 tournament following its 60-48 loss at University of Dayton Saturday night.

The Spiders, who have lost five of their last six games, fell behind 24-10 following a 13-0 Dayton run, and Richmond did not get within eight for the remainder of the game.

Kendall Anthony scored a team-high 20 points, and Terry Allen added 17. Anthony and Allen combined to take 28 of Richmond's 40 field goals and 13 of the team's 17 free-throw attempts at Dayton.

Richmond, which was in the discussion for earning an at-large bid before the its recent skid, most likely needs to win the A-10 tournament to get into the National Collegiate Athletic Association Tournament-a tall task for a team that has struggled to score consistently since losing seniors Cedrick Lindsay and Derrick Williams.

Richmond averaged 68.9 points per game in A-10 play with its two seniors, but has averaged 61 points per game since. Over the last six games, Richmond has scored just 54.7 points per game.

Richmond head coach Chris Mooney said, per richmondspiders.com, the Spiders' defense would be the most important part of Richmond's game heading into the A-10 tournament.

"Because our offense is a little bit spotty, we're gonna have to find some things that work for us," he said. "Hopefully we can do that, but most importantly, we need to play really good defense."

Richmond (18-13, 8-8 A-10) finished seventh in the conference, and will play tenth-seeded Dusquene University at 6:30 on Thursday. Richmond beat the Dukes 75-58 in Pittsburg on Feb. 12.

A Richmond win would set up the season's third matchup against Virginia Commonwealth University, which has a bye to the quarterfinals. The second-seeded Rams beat the Spiders 81-70 on Feb 1 and 56-50 on March 6.

The A-10 tournament has a new format to accommodate the losses of Butler University, Xavier University, Temple University and University of North Carolina at Charlotte and addition of George Mason University. Fordham University and George Mason will meet in a play-in game Wednesday, and four first-round games will be played Thursday. Thursday's four winners will meet the top four A-10 teams in Friday's quarterfinals.

No. 17 Saint Louis University sealed its second-consecutive regular season championship Sunday, with a 64-62 win at University of Massachusetts. George Washington University and Saint Joseph's University join the Rams and Bilikens as the four teams with byes to the quarterfinals.

NBC Sports Network will broadcast the first round and quarterfinals, and CBS Sports will broadcast Saturday's semifinals. The championship will be on CBS at 1:00 p.m. on Selection Sunday.

Contact staff writer Jack Nicholson at jack.nicholson@richmond.edu

Follow him on twitter at @Jack_Nicholson