AMHERST — With the clock ticking under a minute left and Richmond possessing a 69-62 lead with the ball, the UMass men’s basketball team needed a stop to have any chance at finding its first Atlantic 10 win of the season.

But the ball found an open Dusan Neskovic at the top of the key, and just before the shot clock expired, he let a 3-pointer fly. It bounced softly off the front rim, kicked up into the air, brushed off the back rim and fell in to put the Spiders ahead by 10 and seal their second straight league win.

Richmond came into the Mullins Center and earned a 72-64 victory on Saturday afternoon, dropping the Minutemen to 5-10 on the season (0-2 in the A-10).

“We’ve worked really hard [lately], and did not have a terrific preseason,” Spiders head coach Chris Mooney said. “As a lot of teams are experiencing trying to mesh together and gel together, we feel like that’s taking us a little bit of time. But our work ethic and care and all those things have been terrific. To get a road win in the Atlantic 10… we’re really pleased with it.”

It certainly showed on Saturday that Richmond is a team that gives effort and takes pride in each game. Despite the Spiders shooting just 36 percent from the field compared to UMass’ 42 percent, they hustled for 12 offensive rebounds and provoked 17 Minutemen turnovers. Because of that, Richmond took 13 more field goal attempts than UMass.

Any time a ball was deflected or up-for-grabs, the Spiders seemingly always ended up with it. They out-hustled and out-muscled the Minutemen, something that UMass typically does to its opponents – not the other way around.

“Stats had nothing to do with winning and losing today, it was [Richmond’s] willingness to make the hard plays,” UMass head coach Frank Martin said. “When there was a rotation that needed to be made, their help side defense got where it needed. When there was a ball in the balance, they figured out a way to come up with the ball, and we didn't. None of that comes up in the stat sheet. So give them credit. They're playing better. They're playing well. We've gotten better, but we're not mature enough to be able to sustain physical and mental discipline to be able to win these kind of games right now.”

UMass opened the game on a 13-2 run, fueled by Jayden Ndjigue’s five points and a 3 apiece from Daniel Rivera and Rahsool Diggins. The Minutemen scored 16 points in the first five minutes of action. Yet following a Jaylen Curry 3, which made it 16-5 in favor of the hosts, UMass only scored 15 points over the next 15 minutes, 30 seconds of game time.

That allowed Richmond to take control and head into halftime ahead 34-31. The Minutemen’s dry spell continued into the second half, as they didn’t manage a single field goal for over seven minutes of action.

Turnovers plagued UMass over that stretch, and the Spiders built their lead to 10.

“I thought we made some very poor decisions because of their switching,” Martin said. “We had players trying to do things that you can't do against switching defenses, which that’s where the 17 turnovers come from. We had some poor turnovers in that part of the game, which was the very end of the first half and the beginning of the second half… When you have bad turnovers – lackadaisical, non-competitive, non play-making plays – those aren't good.”

UMass somehow overcame its struggles and went on a quick 7-0 spurt that was capped off by a Diggins 3-pointer. Mooney called timeout to stem the tide.

Out of the huddle, Martin switched to a 3-2 zone. On the first two possessions, Richmond buried consecutive shots from deep – the latter being an and-1 from Neskovic, who knocked down the subsequent free throw. The Spiders were back up eight with six minutes to go.

UMass only got as close as seven points the rest of the way, never truly threatening because of its lack of energy on the defensive glass.

“I thought we did a good job,” Martin said of his team’s zone defense. “I thought [Richmond] got stagnant, but they made that corner 3 that we fouled. Give that kid credit, because we contested his 3 and he dribbled, and the next guy came, and he still made it. But other than that, what hurt us was on those long bombs that they took, we all stood there and watched them get offensive rebounds. That's the stuff I don't comprehend.”

Four different UMass players scored in double figures, with Curry pouring in a game-high 18 points and grabbing a team-high eight rebounds to lead the way. Diggins added 16 points including four 3s, Ndjigue had several of his patented hustle plays which translated to 11 points and Rivera chipped in 10 points and six boards.

The Minutemen’s best chance to re-take the lead – something they lost at the 4-minute mark of the first half – came following Diggins’ 3 when the deficit was down to one possession. Richmond’s Collin Tanner and Neskovic had other plans, as the Spiders’ timely shooting on the next two possessions shoved few too many daggers in the Minutemen’s heart.

“It wasn’t a run that was overwhelming,” Mooney said of UMass’ seven unanswered points about two-thirds of the way through the second half. “And then Collin Tanner hit that 3 out of the timeout, which was a really big play because [a three-point lead] to six is pretty significant. I just think that our guys were really focused.”

Delonnie Hunt scored a team-high 16 points for Richmond, while Neskovic (15 points), Mike Walz (11 points, game-high nine boards) and Tanner (10 points) played huge roles in the win as well.

UMass (5-10, 0-2 A-10) next hosts Dayton on Wednesday night at 7 p.m. inside Mullins Center. The Flyers (11-4, 1-1) are coming off a shocking 20-point loss to George Washington on Saturday afternoon.