Payback: ODU 69, VCU 65

On Jan. 17 at the Siegel Center Virginia Commonwealth University had its way with Old Dominion University. The Rams won by 17 points. Coming off of an overtime win at home on Wednesday, a win the Rams were lucky to get, VCU had no late-game magic in Norfolk on Saturday. Playing at home, before a sell-out […]

February 14, 2009; 9:37 PM • by FTRea

On Jan. 17 at the Siegel Center Virginia Commonwealth University had its way with Old Dominion University. The Rams won by 17 points. Coming off of an overtime win at home on Wednesday, a win the Rams were lucky to get, VCU had no late-game magic in Norfolk on Saturday.

Playing at home, before a sell-out crowd of 8,424, the determined Monarchs were too strong for the slumping Rams: ODU 69, VCU 64.

Following a lackluster first stanza, the Rams opened the second with 14 straight points, sparked by a trey by guard/forward Bradford Burgess and capped by a three-point play by T.J. Gwynn, to pull ahead, 42-37. However, ODU’s Gerald Lee scored back-to-back layups during a 7-0 burst to tie the score at 42-42 with 12:52 remaining.

Lee scored nine of his 18 points during a critical stretch late in the second half. With 2:25 remaining Lee’s jumper gave ODU a 59-57 it would not relinquish. Following a pair of Darius James’ free throws that extended the margin to four, Lee drove and lane and kicked to Ben Finney in the corner for a 3-pointer with 1:25 on the clock. The Rams never recovered.

VCU’s Eric Maynor, who led all scorers with 22 points, cut the margin to 65-62 with 50 seconds left, but Finney hit a pair from the charity stripe to put the game out of reach. Burgess added 16 points.

Finney chipped in 16 points and five rebounds, while Frank Hassell chipped in with 10 points and six boards for ODU (16-9, 9-6 CAA). The Monarchs out-rebounded the Rams, 43-37, and ODU outscored VCU, 35-20, in the paint.

Currently tied for first place with Northeastern (who also lost today) in the Colonial Athletic Association, VCU (18-8, 11-4 CAA) returns to action on Wed., Feb. 18 when it hosts Delaware (11-16, 5-10 in CAA) at the Siegel Center at 7 p.m. On Jan. 3 the Rams lost on the road to the Blue Hens. Will it payback time?

–Some of the information above was provided by Chris Kowalczyk VCU.

February 14, 2009 9:37 PM 0