VCU 65, Rhode Island 60

KINGSTON, R.I. — Virginia Commonwealth had only trailed for 36 seconds in its last 315 minutes of play, but on Tuesday night it spent most of the night playing from behind.

Thanks to a second-half outburst by Treveon Graham VCU wasn’t it behind when it counted the most — at the end of the game.

Graham scored 16 of his game-leading 26 points in the closing 20 minutes, and the senior’s contributions were enough to send No. 17 ranked VCU to its ninth straight victory, a 65-60 win against unranked Rhode Island at a jam-packed and energetic Ryan Center.

Rhode Island (11-4, 3-1 Atlantic 10) suffered its first home loss of the season after eight wins in a row in friendly territory. The defeat also snapped a six-game winning streak for the host Rams.

VCU (14-3, 4-0 Atlantic 10) faced an uphill battle heading into the second half after trailing by as many as nine points (twice) in the opening half. But the Rams showed some life to start the final period.

A 12-6 run in the first 7:58 of the second brought VCU within a point 41-40 before Rhode Island created some distance, pushing its advantage back to nine at 49-40 with 9:04 left.

VCU pulled within three with 6:33 left. A straightaway 3 from Graham nearly a minute later knotted the score at 51 all.

Freshman guard Jared Terrell’s layup at 4:14 briefly put Rhode Island back in control, but Graham answered with a layup at 3:53 on the other end to make it even once more.

Rhode Island’s sophomore guard E.C. Matthews nailed a critical 3-pointer nine seconds leader to give the hosts another three-point edge, and Terrell’s dunk at 3:24 made it a five-point game.

Junior guard Melvin Johnson pulled up for a 3 at 3:13 and knocked it down to trim Rhode Island’s lead. Then another 3 from Graham at 2:30 gave VCU the lead for good.

Matthews led all Rhode Island scorers with 22 points and had seven rebounds. Sophomore forward Martin Hassan notched a double-double with 10 points and 10 boards and junior forward Jarelle Reischel scored 10 points off the bench. Rhode Island shot 43.4 percent on the night.

VCU was limited to 40.7 percent shooting and had a miserable night from both the 3-point line (8-for-24) and the charity stripe (9 of 21), but it was able to overcome its shooting woes.

The vaunted VCU “havoc” defense couldn’t cool off Rhode Island in the first half, which used a 19-7 run in the span of 8:11 to pull ahead 22-14. Rhode Island extended its lead to nine twice before VCU cut the deficit to seven heading to the locker rooms.

Graham scored 10 points in the opening half to lead VCU, which was held to 35.5 percent shooting before intermission.

Rhode Island shot 43.3 percent from the floor in the first half while missing all three 3-pointers it attempted.

NOTES: VCU and Rhode Island met for the seventh time in program history. VCU led the all-time series 4-2 and won the previous three games. … VCU’s “havoc” defense ranked third in the country in turnovers forced (17.9 per game) and steals (11.1 per game) coming into the contest. … VCU senior G Briante Weber entered Tuesday’s game fourth on the NCAA’s all-time steals list with 358. He needed 28 more to break the record. … Rhode Island snapped a 22-game losing streak against ranked opponents with a 66-62 overtime win against No. 21 Nebraska on Nov. 22. … VCU travels to face Duquesne on Saturday. Rhode Island also is in action Saturday, visiting Massachusetts.