After losing its last three away outings, Loyola Chicago came dangerously close to doing the same against Richmond. The Ramblers fifth-year guard Sheldon Edwards Jr.’s four 3-pointers in overtime propelled them to an 87-80 win over the Spiders on a snowy Tuesday night at the Robins Center in Richmond, Virginia.
Loyola Chicago started the game red hot, hitting their first four shots and immediately taking a double-digit lead over Richmond.
“College basketball is a game of runs,” Richmond coach Chris Mooney said. “Often in the beginning of the game there’s a run.”
Loyola Chicago stayed firmly in the driver’s seat, jumping out to a 24-9 lead halfway through the first.
However, Richmond began to slowly claw its way back in, going on a 10-0 run and then following that with an 8-0 run to end the half. This saw the Spiders eventually go into halftime down 34-31.
Richmond’s junior center Mike Walz helped lift the team throughout the first en route to a career-scoring night. He went into the half with nine points and finished with a career-high 20 on 66% shooting from the field.
“I’ve really trusted myself,” Walz said. “I feel like I’ve made great strides this season, getting myself to a position where coach Mooney can count on me on the offensive side.”
Richmond soon found themselves in a familiar position as Loyola Chicago would make three of their first four shots to start the second half.
Richmond looked once again to be lagging behind before embarking on a 13-0 run and keeping Loyola Chicago from scoring over the span of six minutes to bring the game back close.
Following this, both teams exchanged baskets on consecutive possessions to keep the game tight with seven lead changes in the final five minutes.
Richmond took its largest lead with less than a minute to go before Loyola Chicago hit a 3 to tie the game at 65-65 and send it to overtime.
Overtime belonged almost solely to Loyola Chicago and Edwards Jr. Richmond showed some fight early, but the shots continued to fall for the Ramblers and the Spiders ran out of ways to respond.
Loyola Chicago played primarily from 3, shooting 44 3s in the game and having 62% of their points come from behind the arc.
“I thought in overtime and late in the game, I thought we defended well,” Mooney said. “I thought many of them were well guarded, but maybe they got a little bit too comfortable early in the game.”
Last-place Richmond (8-17, 3-9 Atlantic 10) will look to bounce back at home against 14th-place Fordham (11-12, 3-7 A-10) at 6 p.m. ET Saturday.
Loyola Chicago (15-9, 6-5 A-10) will hope to carry over their momentum from this game as they play another top-five conference team at home in Saint Louis (14-11, 7-5) at 7 p.m. ET Friday.
