Retribution: VCU dominates William and Mary in rematch

Joey Rodriguez scored 18 points and dished out 10 assists as the Rams ended William & Mary’s school-record seven-game road winning streak in an 81-59 drubbing Wednesday night in front of a sold out Verizon Wireless Arena.

January 21, 2010; 7:54 AM • by William King

The Tribe entered the game winners of 14 of their last 15 and off to a program-best 6-1 in CAA play. They were also looking for their first regular-season win at VCU since the 1999-00 season. But VCU’s full-court press and man-to-man defense caused problems for William & Mary shooters most of the night as the Rams avenged a December defeat in Williamsburg.

The Rams jumped out to a 15-4 lead early behind six points from big man Larry Sanders, before the Tribe worked their way back into the game. The Tribe’s Danny Sumner hit a three-pointer with less than 30 seconds remaining in the half to send VCU into the locker room with a 31-26 advantage.

William & Mary came out of the half inspired quickly cutting the VCU lead to 33-31 on a Sumner fast break dunk forcing a the Rams into a timeout.

The Black & Gold came out of the time out and got a three-point play from Jamie Skeen and a 3-pointer from Brandon Rozzell to push the VCU lead back to eight.

The lead reached 15 behind a trio of Terrance Saintil buckets culminating in a steal and one-handed slam by the sophomore.

“I really thought Terrance was a difference maker tonight,” VCU head coach Shaka Smart said after the game. “He had three huge steals and caused a lot of problems for them at the top of the key defensively.”

Back-to-back 3-pointers from Bradford Burgess and Ed Nixon, sandwiched in between a Burgess block of a David Schneider layup, put the Rams up 57-38 with 9:35 to play and brought the crowd at the Siegel Center to its feet. VCU closed out the game going a perfect 8-for-8 from the free throw line down the stretch to seal the 22-point victory.

“We talked about having an urgency to close out on them, because they have five guys that can shoot,” said VCU guard Joey Rodriguez. William and Mary, leading the Colonial Athletic Association with a 38.8 shooting percentage from 3-point range and second in the league with 74.4 points per game, shot just 7-of-27 from long range.

William & Mary’s Danny Sumner led all scorers with 20 points on 8-of-12 shooting, while Markus Kitts added16 points and 11 rebounds for the Tribe.

Larry Sanders finished with 18 points and eight rebounds, while Rozzell added 15 points for the Rams. VCU, winners of four straight, improves to 13-4 overall and 5-3 in CAA play while William & Mary falls to 14-4 on the season and 6-2 in the conference.

The Rams travel to Boston Saturday to take on Northeastern. The Huskies beat the Rams 62-57 at the Siegel Center on Jan. 4. The game is scheduled for 2 p.m.