University of Richmond Athletic Department issued the following announcement on Feb. 4
In a Friday night ESPN2 battle between the Atlantic 10 Conference's preseason top two teams, Tyler Burton scored a career-high 36 points to lead Richmond to a 71-61 victory over St. Bonaventure in front of 6,515 rowdy fans at Robins Center.
"The crowd and student section were terrific tonight and a big part of the game," head coach Chris Mooney said. "The Robins Center is such a great atmosphere, looks great on TV and is a huge home-court advantage."
Burton opened the scoring with a steal and a fast-break layup, a sign of things to come for the Spiders junior. He finished the night with a career-high 36 points on 13-of-20 shooting with three three-pointers, seven rebounds and two steals. Burton's 36 points are the most by a Spider since T.J. Cline scored 36 against Dayton at the Robins Center on March 1, 2016.
"There's not enough words to describe [Burton's performance]. He was tremendous. It's amazing that his ceiling is that high. He was incredible," Mooney said.
The Spiders quickly built an early nine-point lead, and after a Bonnies run the Richmond defense turned up the intensity down the stretch of the first half to help UR take a 38-31 lead into halftime. Richmond collected five steals that led to 13 points and pulled down four offensive rebounds for seven second-chance points in the first half.
St. Bonaventure got off to a quick second-half start, going on a 13-4 run to take a brief lead at 44-42 with 12:33 to play. The Spiders rallied and took control of the game with an 11-4 stretch over more than five minutes, giving UR a 65-57 lead with 1:20 to play. UR held St. Bonaventure to 1-7 shooting from the field during their run. Richmond was 8-8 from the free-throw line in the final 90 seconds to seal the win. Burton's free throws with 40 seconds to play ended the scoring and gave UR its biggest lead of the game, at 71-61.
Grant Golden (10 rebounds), Burton (7) and Matt Grace (5) helped the Spiders to a 35-24 rebounding advantage for the game. Golden added 12 points to record his 19th career double-double.
Andre Gustavson finished with nine points, three rebounds and three steals. Jacob Gilyard dished a game-high eight assists.
The win was Richmond's first in six tries vs the Bonnies and gave UR its first victory in the series since January 11, 2017. The Spiders are now 8-3 at home this season and have won 11 straight February home games dating back to the 2018-19 season.
Richmond is back in action on Monday, Feb. 7, taking on George Mason at Robins Center at 7 p.m. on ESPN+.
Original source can be found here.
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