National Basketball Association
VCU 93, Davidson 73
When: 1:30 PM ET, Saturday, March 14, 2015
Where: Barclays Center, Brooklyn, New York
Officials:
# Tony Crisp, # Tim Kelly, # Earl Walton
Attendance:
N/A
By SportsDirect Inc.
VCU 93, No. 24 Davidson 73: Treveon Graham scored 18 points, including 4-of-4 from 3-point range, and grabbed nine rebounds as the fifth-seeded Rams upset the top-seeded Wildcats in the semifinals of the Atlantic 10 tournament in Brooklyn, N.Y.
Mo Alie-Cox scored 18 points to go with eight rebounds, JeQuan Lewis finished with 13 points, and Terry Larrier added 11 points for VCU (25-9), which advanced to its third straight A-10 title game and fifth straight conference championship game overall. The Rams, who shot 49.1 percent and finished with a 40-30 rebounding edge, will face No. 2 seed Dayton in Sunday's championship game.
Atlantic 10 Player of the Year Tyler Kalinoski had 19 points, seven rebounds and three steals to lead Davidson (24-7), which had a 10-game winning streak snapped. Jack Gibbs and Jordan Barham each added 18 points for the Wildcats, who connected on just 7-of-26 3-point attempts while shooting 42.1 percent.
Davidson, which handed VCU the worst loss of Shaka Smart's six-year coaching stint 82-55 on March 5, looked like it might blow out the Rams again early, racing to a 14-4 lead in the first five minutes behind seven points by Kalinoski. But the Rams caught fire after that, sinking five consecutive 3-pointers during one stretch while finishing the half on a 40-12 run to lead 44-28 at halftime.
VCU pushed its lead to 55-33 on a three-point play by Jordan Burgess with a little over 15 minutes remaining before Davidson, which rallied from an 18-point deficit to pull out 67-66 win over La Salle in the quarterfinals, went on a 16-0 run fueled by a pair of 3-pointers by Kalinoski to close to within 55-49. But Graham hit a 3-pointer and Alie-Cox added a dunk and a pair of free throws during a 12-3 run as the Rams extended their lead back to 15 points, and the Wildcats never got closer than 11 points the rest of the way.
GAME NOTEBOOK: VCU, which was 1-of-15 from 3-point range in the March 5 loss to Davidson, finished 12-of-24 beyond the arc including 8-of-14 in the first half. ... VCU G Melvin Johnson, who went over the 1,000-point mark for his career with a 3-pointer midway through the first half, connected on 2-of-8 3-pointers and is 11-of-24 for the tournament from long range. ... The Rams, who scored four points in the first eight minutes, scored 89 over the final 32 minutes.
Top Game Performances
| VCU |
|
Davidson |
|
Mo Alie-Cox 18 |
Scoring |
Tyler Kalinoski 19 |
|
Jonathan Williams 5 |
Assists |
Brian Sullivan 6 |
|
Treveon Graham 9 |
Rebounds |
Tyler Kalinoski 7 |
|
Mo Alie-Cox 8 |
Free Throws Made |
Jack Gibbs 9 |
|
Jonathan Williams 2 |
Steals |
Tyler Kalinoski 3 |
|
Justin Tillman 3 |
Blocks |
Peyton Aldridge 1 |
Team Stats Summary
| Team |
Points |
FG% |
3PM-3PA |
FTM-FTA |
Assists |
Rebounds |
Blocks |
Steals |
Turnovers |
| VCU
|
93 |
49.1 |
12-24 |
25-30 |
15 |
37 |
3 |
7 |
12 |
| Davidson
|
73 |
42.1 |
7-26 |
18-26 |
15 |
30 |
3 |
7 |
9 |
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