Northeastern defeats VCU

“Hotly contested,” said Northeastern head coach Bill Coen, “all that you’d expect from two teams fighting for first place.” VCU’s Eric Maynor got his 30 points … with 16 points Brandon Rozzell had his career night … VCU’s big men played hard, but they were made to look like guys who still have a lot to […]

January 28, 2009; 1:19 AM • by FTRea

“Hotly contested,” said Northeastern head coach Bill Coen, “all that you’d expect from two teams fighting for first place.”

VCU’s Eric Maynor got his 30 points … with 16 points Brandon Rozzell had his career night … VCU’s big men played hard, but they were made to look like guys who still have a lot to learn: Northeastern 68, VCU 63.

Anthony Grant has a 67-21 record in the last third of of third season at VCU

“We didn’t take away the three-point line,” said VCU head coach Anthony Grant. “The three-point line changes games.”

VCU’s Larry Sanders was whistled for a charging foul 16 seconds into the game … the eager referees called three more fouls on the Rams in the next minute and 12 seconds … the Huskies built up a 17-point first-half lead.

“You just can’t play like that,” said Maynor. “I guess we didn’t rebound and defend like we were supposed to.”

In all, 48 fouls were called … at the 2:08 mark of the second half a near-melee broke out under the VCU basket … two personal fouls were called … players had to be restrained … in the confusion technical fouls were called on players on both teams … Karl Hess, one of the referees, had to be restrained.

Many of the 6,841 witnesses hooted at the flustered refs like they were three escapees from Gitmo. Fortunately, the coaches kept the contest from turning into a fist-fight.

“Emotion got the best of us,” said Grant. “Hopefully, today, we learned more about ourselves.”

“This is a tough arena to play in,” said Manny Adako, who like his Huskies teammate Eugene Spates scored 12 points. “The crowd goes crazy!”

Northeastern (14-6, 9-1 in CAA) left the Siegel Center with first place in the CAA secure in its grip. VCU (15-6, 8-2 in CAA) plays next at Hofstra on Saturday.

“All I can say is, they’re a good team and we feel like we’ll see them again,” said Maynor, who missed a trey with 12 seconds remaining that would have tied the score.

Knowing the Huskies will not meet the Rams again in the regular season, Coen said, “The CAA championship is going to come through VCU.”

Grant said, “We’re a work in progress…”