It took 40 minutes of regulation and a five-minute overtime period, but the Richmond Spiders were ultimately able to knock off Southern Illinois, 93-84, in a back-and-forth clash on Dec. 13.
At times during regulation, it felt as if the game were inching closer and closer to producing a Jon Rothstein social media post, which almost certainly would have detailed the Spiders dropping a “buy game” late in their non-schedule slate to a Missouri Valley Conference Salukis squad.
Richmond was able to pull away in overtime, however, fending off any Rothstein comments and more importantly, keeping the Spiders’ impressive record to begin the 2025-26 season intact.
“I think I’ve known that we had a lot of heart, but I think that this really showed it,” Jonathan Beagle said in a postgame press conference. “I know when we played Furman we were down about 15 and we came back. We just can’t get over the hump. I think this just showed we got over the hump, so I think that showed a lot of heart.”
In the first half, there were moments where it appeared as if the Spiders were turning a corner and finally going to go on a run to create some separation on the scoreboard, but throughout the first 20 minutes, the Salukis kept the score at arms length.
Richmond did hold a 29-22 lead with 4:19 to play before halftime, but Southern Illinois would end up outscoring the Spiders 14-3 heading into the break to end the half on top, 36-32.
Not even two minutes into the second half, the Salukis’ lead had swelled to nine points, which meant the Spiders would be tasked with digging themselves out of a hole to try to even up the score. Richmond was able to cut the deficit to five points, but with just under 16 minutes to play, Southern Illinois’ lead was back up to nine.
Luckily for the Spiders, they came out of a timeout with a heightened sense of energy and a 16-0 run gave them a 57-50 point lead. Richmond was then in the driver’s seat as the second half progressed.
The Salukis kept clawing back, however, and just when Will Johnston scored to give the Spiders a 74-71 cushion with 20.2 seconds to play, Southern Illinois’ Quel’Ron House completed an and-one to deadlock both teams at 74 and force an overtime.
Whereas in the second half, it was Johnston and Beagle who put the Spiders on their backs, in overtime, it was Aiden Argabright.
In just his 10th collegiate game ever, the freshman guard scored nine of his team-high 18 points in the overtime period – the Richmond native ultimately helping his Spiders take care of business in the closing minutes.
“Aiden [Argabright], of course, that was really impressive, to have such command at such a young age and confidence,” head coach Chris Mooney said. “He made all of his free throws in overtime, just as importantly he gets to the free throw line so often. And I thought he was terrific.”
Johnston, who hit several big-time shots down the stretch in regulation, finished not far behind Argabright with 17 points of his own.
And Beagle, who played potentially the most complete game of his career with the Spiders to this point, was the third-highest scorer for Richmond, dropping 14 points on 7-for-10 shooting to go along with a stat line of eight rebounds, three assists and two steals, all off the bench.
“Hopefully this idea of having so many guys that help and contribute and can help us to win games just continues to gain momentum,” Mooney said.
The Spiders, who now sit at 9-1, will take on Elon at 7 p.m. on Dec. 17, which will mark just the second true away game this season for Richmond.
