Rams 88, Seahawks 59

In CAA action at the Siegel Center on Monday, VCU got off to a fast start — the Rams hit seven of their first nine shots to take a 16-4 lead, less than five minutes into the game. Before a crowd of 4,217, sophomore guard Joey Rodriguez scored a career-high 25 points for VCU to […]

January 5, 2009; 10:58 PM • by FTRea

In CAA action at the Siegel Center on Monday, VCU got off to a fast start — the Rams hit seven of their first nine shots to take a 16-4 lead, less than five minutes into the game. Before a crowd of 4,217, sophomore guard Joey Rodriguez scored a career-high 25 points for VCU to pace the Rams offense in routing UNC Wilmington: VCU 88, UNCW 59.

Rodriguez connected on five of his seven attempts from behind the three-point line. He added five rebounds and four steals to his stat-line.

Both senior guard Eric Maynor and sophomore forward/center Larry Sanders scored 16 points against the overmatched Seahawks.

Maynor also dished out 12 assists, his most since recording 15 assists on Feb. 3, 2007 against Georgia State. Sanders pulled down 10 rebounds, to record his third double-double of the season

The Rams shot .525 (32-of-61) for the game. VCU out-rebounded the Seahawks, 43-31.

With 17 points Kevon Moore led UNC Wilmington (3-12, 0-3), who have lost nine consecutive games.

“Thought it was a great effort by our guys tonight in the areas that we talked about specifically the last few days, which was defensively the intensity that we needed to play with and the understanding of being able to defend the three-point line and play a 40-minute game,” said VCU Head Coach Anthony Grant.

“I’m proud of the way these guys responded after a difficult loss at Delaware, to come out and understand the effort that we need to play with. Hopefully we understand that this is the kind of effort we need to bring on a nightly basis, not once in a while or every other game or after a loss, but on a nightly basis that this is how we’re supposed to play.”

VCU (9-5, 2-1 in CAA) returns to action on Thurs., Jan. 8 when the Rams travel to Philadelphia, to meet Drexel (5-7, 1-2 in CAA) at 7 p.m (ESPNU).

January 5, 2009 10:58 PM 0