RICHMOND, Va. — Behind a game high 27 points from Jordan King, the Richmond Spiders exacted a measure of revenge against their crosstown rivals from VCU with a 79-76 win that evened their season series at a game apiece.
King, who was one of six seniors honored before the game, hit 5 of 11 three point shots, some off balance and one while nearly falling into his own bench, to lead Richmond to their 22nd win of the season, moving them one win away from clinching the Atlantic 10 regular season championship.
"Jordan is obviously a very special player," said Spiders head coach Chris Mooney after the win. "When he can make shots like that, it helps everybody."
"We told them at halftime, King's got 14. If he goes for 28, we have no shot," added VCU head coach Ryan Odom. "That's really kind of where it went."
VCU (19-10, 11-5 A-10) led for 17 of the 20 first half minutes behind 19 points from Max Shulga and 13 each from Zeb Jackson, Sean Bairstow and Tobi Lawal. But the Spiders (22-7, 14-2 A-10) clawed back to take a three point lead at the half thanks to one of King's 5 three pointers.
"He's (King) been (A-10) player of the year for a long time in my book," said Spiders guard Delonnie Hunt who had 16 points. "And happy birthday to him!"
Both teams scored 47 second half points with the Spiders leading by as many as ten and the Rams closing the gap little by little. But Richmond shot 67% from the floor and 50% behind the arc to outlast the Rams and get a big win for their regular season title hopes.
Neal Quinn had 12 points and 9 rebounds for the Spiders while Dji Bailey added 11 and Isaiah Bigelow had 10.
"With all the moving around in college sports, there will probably be fewer and fewer rivalries like this," Mooney added. "This is special because the programs have been good. The games have been like this. It was the only thing we really talked about. Throw our record out, throw their record out, and just really focus on the game."
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