Spiders take down William & Mary in suspenseful match

The University of Richmond men’s basketball team defeated the College of William and Mary 90-86 on Tuesday, Nov. 11 at Robins Arena. 

UR and W&M are historic rivals as this was the 204th all-time meeting between the two teams. The Spiders were looking to avenge themselves against the Tribe after a 93-87 loss in their matchup last year. 

The Spiders got out of the gate hot as junior guard Mikkel Tyne and graduate guard Will Johnston each knocked down a 3-pointer in the Spiders’ first few possessions. Shooting from beyond the arc has been an issue for the Spiders during the first two games, as UR came into the night shooting just 23% on 3-pointers. 

As became a recurring case throughout the night, William and Mary quickly answered, putting up points of their own; the Tribe turned up the pressure and controlled much of the pace throughout the early minutes, leading to an 8-0 scoring run and catapulting the team into a 10-7 lead just over three minutes into the game.

 “I feel like in the first half we went away from our defensive principles,” said graduate guard AJ Lopez postgame. “I feel like once we started buckling down on that, that’s when we started getting in control of the game.”

A strength of the Spiders throughout the beginning of the season has been their depth of their bench. This was the case again tonight as 12 Spiders appeared in the first 11 minutes of the game. This allowed different players to take over in different parts of the game. Senior forward Mike Walz provided the first burst for the UR offense, as he put up nine points and grabbed six rebounds, including getting to the free-throw line four times in the final minutes of the first half. 

Fouling was an issue for both teams throughout the night. The two teams shot a combined 77 free throws and committed a whopping 54 fouls during the game. 

First-year Aiden Argabright also got in on the scoring action, as he pitched in nine points in the first half including two 3-pointers of his own to give UR a razor-thin 44-43 lead going into the second half. 

The back-and-forth play continued in the second half as W&M quickly retook the lead just 45 seconds into the half. Neither team was ever able to establish control as the game featured a total of 12 lead changes and 7 ties, with no team ever leading by more than 8 points. 

Not only was this an evenly based matchup on the court, it was a familiar matchup from a coaching perspective as well. Both head coaches, Chris Mooney of the Spiders and Brian Earl of the Tribe, came from a similar playing background, as both attended and played college basketball at the historic powerhouse Princeton University.  

UR tried to contain the Tribe’s fast-paced style of offense all night, Lopez said. 

“[We] really tried to slow them (W&M) down in the half-court and make them play our brand of basketball,” he said. 

W&M continued to move the ball up the court at a fast pace, often catching the Spider defense off guard. 

The Spiders went on another scoring run, this time led by Johnston, who connected on a pair of threes and was fouled in the process of shooting a third. Despite his 16 points of offense, the Tribe remained hot on the Spiders tail. 

With less than 10 minutes remaining, the Spiders held on to a one point lead. Just as a 3-pointer from Tyne looked as if it might have sealed the game in UR’s favor by putting them up eight with just three minutes left to play, the Tribe rallied. 

W&M tied the game at 82 points with a 3-pointer, with just under a minute left to play. Just as it looked like the game may be slipping away, Lopez took over; hitting a layup in transition to give the Spiders a two point lead and then doing it again just moments later. 

Winning close games was a recurring issue for the Spiders throughout all of last season as they lost 13 games by less than 10 points or in overtime. 

“So many games come down to it (the wire) because you can manipulate the clock by fouling… and then also you have to make free throws,” said Mooney postgame. “And so if you don’t make free throws, suddenly a comfortable lead gets tight really quick.” 

Despite missing 11 free throws during the game, free throw shooting from the Spiders was able to put W&M away. 

“Jonathon Beagle making a big free throw to get it (the lead) to four, Aiden Argabright made two big free throws, Colin Tanner had a big defensive rebound. Our last possession we guarded decently well, so there’s a lot of positives to take from that,” said Mooney 

UR had contributions from many, with four players scoring in the double-digits. Lopez led the way with 18 points, followed by Johnston with 16. The bench played a large part in the Spider’s success, as Argabright’s 15 points and Beagle’s 10 points and 10 rebounds led the way. 

With this win, UR now starts the season 3-0 for the first time since 2020. They have a break before returning to action for their next game, Wednesday, Nov. 19 at home against Virginia Military Institute. 

Contact sports writer Jeremy Young at jeremy.young@richmond.edu