NCAA News Wire
Virginia Commonwealth 56, Richmond 50
Jeff Hawkins is an award-winning sportswriter with more than four decades in the industry (print and digital media). A freelance writer/stay-at-home dad since 2008, Hawkins started his career with newspaper stints in Michigan, North Carolina, Florida, Upstate New York and Illinois, where he earned the 2004 APSE first-place award for column writing (under 40,000 circulation). As a beat writer, he covered NASCAR Winston Cup events at NHIS (1999-2003), the NHL's Chicago Blackhawks (2003-06) and the NFL's Carolina Panthers (2011-12). Hawkins penned four youth sports books, including a Michael Jordan biography. Hawkins' main hobbies include mountain bike riding, 5k trail runs at the Whitewater Center in Charlotte, N.C., and live music.
All posts by Jeff HawkinsUpdated15 Oct 2021
The Virginia Commonwealth Rams overcame a slow start and an uneven performance to knock off the Richmond Spiders 56-50 on the road Thursday night and keep its hopes of winning a share of the Atlantic 10 Conference title alive.
VCU (23-7, 11-4 Atlantic 10) was down 26-22 at halftime and trailed 37-26 on a layup by forward Terry Allen with 14:11 to play, but then went on an 18-3 run to take a 44-40 lead. Four free throws by Richmond guard Kendall Anthony tied the score, but an 8-3 run put the Rams back on top.
Richmond (18-12, 8-7) had the chance to tie or take the lead in the final seconds, but Anthony missed a layup and forward Alonzo Nelson-Ododa could not tip in the rebound. VCU’s Treveon Graham corralled the loose ball, got fouled and made both free throws with six seconds left. Richmond turned the ball over, and guard Rob Brandenberg made a pair of free throws for the final margin.
Graham had a double-double with 18 rebounds and 10 points for the Rams, with Brandenberg adding 11 points. The Rams enter Saturday’s regular-season finale with St. Bonaventure tied for second in the conference with St. Joseph’s, one game behind first-place St. Louis.
Anthony scored 20 points to lead Richmond, which made just five of its 20 three-point attempts.
This was the Spiders final home game of the season, but there were no scholarship seniors on the court. Guard Cedrick Lindsay is out for the season with a knee injury, and forward Derrick Williams left the team for personal reasons.
