February 24, 2010

SENIORS SENT OFF WITH 20TH WIN OF THE YEAR, 76-62 OVER JAMES MADISON
Box Score

RICHMOND, Va. – Logarithms. Chinese Erythematic. The Meaning of Life. The reason behind remaking the Karate Kid.

All these things are easier to figure out than the current state of the Colonial Athletic Association standings with just one game to play in the regular season.

The Virginia Commonwealth University men’s basketball help convolute those standings after a decisive 76-62 victory over the Dukes of James Madison, sending its two seniors off, T.J. Gwynn (Burlington, N.C.) (top, right) and Kirill Pishchalnikov (Maykop, Russia) (top, left), with the fourth straight 20-win season for the Black & Gold.

“I’m really happy for our seniors,” Head Coach Shaka Smart said. “Although their hard work doesn’t necessarily show up on the stat sheet, both of them were huge for us and what we were able to do tonight.”

Leading the way was junior Joey Rodriguez (Oviedo, Fla.) (right) who tied a season high with 24 points, along with five assists and four steals. Sophomore Bradford Burgess (Midlothian, Va.) (below, left) scorched the net for 7-of-10 shooting and 16 points.

Rodriguez and Burgess helped offset an outstanding offensive performance from the Dukes’ Denzel Bowles, who finished with 31 points on 13-of-17 shooting.

“Bowles is one of, if not the, best offensive player in the league,” Smart said. “He’s tough to stop no matter what. It wasn’t our best performance of the year, but I was at least happy with the way we were able to create some turnovers and force some tough shots from their other guys.”

Rodriguez got it started right away, scoring 11 of VCU’s first 13 points en route to a 13-2 run to begin the contest.

A three-pointer from Pierre Curtis would get the Dukes within one at 32-31 with under three minutes left in the first-half but a three-pointer from junior Brandon Rozzell (Richmond, Va.) and a jumper as time expired from Burgess sent the Black & Gold into halftime with a four-point lead.

Outstanding defense by Rozzell and classmate Ed Nixon (St. Petersburg, Fla.) ignited a 26-12 run to start the second half, which was capped off by a fast-break dunk by junior Larry Sanders (Fort Pierce, Fla.) to give the Rams a 63-45 advantage with under 10 minutes to play.

JMU would not go away as Bowles scored 18 second-half points to get the Dukes within nine, but back-to-back steals by Nixon would lead to six straight points for the Rams to secure the critical victory.

If the season ended tonight, the Rams would find themselves in fourth-place, earning a first round bye at the upcoming CAA Tournament. However, there is still one more game to play. Here’s how the tournament picture looks for the Black & Gold:

• If VCU wins on Saturday at Old Dominion, George Mason must beat Northeastern or UNC Wilmington must beat William & Mary for VCU to be the #4 seed.
  
  
• If VCU loses on Saturday at Old Dominion, William & Mary must lose at UNC Wilmington and Drexel must lose at James Madison. If Drexel does not lose, then Drexel, William & Mary and VCU would all end up in a three-way tie, which William & Mary would be the fourth-seed due a 3-1 record against Drexel and the Rams. VCU would be the fifth-seed and Drexel would be the sixth.
  
  
• Due to Drexel’s loss at home tonight to UNC Wilmington, the Rams are guaranteed at least a top-five finish in the CAA standings.

The Rams will make the trek to Norfolk, Va. on Saturday afternoon for a sold-out 4 p.m. showdown with the league-leading Monarchs of Old Dominion. Michael Reghi and Joe Lunardi will bring you all the action on Comcast SportsNet.