WASHINGTON (AP) — Grant Golden and Tyler Burton contributed a joint 18 points and 17 boards as sixth-seeded Richmond successfully completed a late comeback against No. 2 Dayton 68-64 in the Atlantic 10 Championship Semifinals on Saturday evening at Capital One Arena.
With the win, the Spiders advance into the program's first A-10 Championship Final since the 2011 campaign, matching wits with No. 1 overall Davidson at 1:00 p.m. on Sunday afternoon.
"Credit to [Davidson]," Golden said. "They came out and really weathered the storm [in the second half]. I thought we got some good looks on offense there at the beginning, but they were able to answer with some big buckets. We kept chipping away, chipping away. And we were able to sort of cut into the deficit. And I think the guards did a really great job on the press. Really helped us out a lot throughout the second half."
Golden totaled a game-high 18 points with nine boards while Tyler Burton tossed 16 points and eight rebounds for Richmond (22-12). Matt Grace added 12 points and Jacob Gilyard finished with 11 points.
The Spiders trailed by double digits throughout the opening 10 minutes of the second period, but an 11-0 stretch starting at the 10:56 mark by Grace launched UR back into contention. The game evened at 57-57 with just under four minutes to play before Richmond captured a decisive lead – again a key shot by Grace – with 1:40 remaining.
Toumani Camara set the tone for Dayton (23-10) with 17 points and 14 rebounds while DaRon Holmes II put in 15 points and three blocks. Koby Brea concluded the contest with 10 points.