Box Score
RICHMOND, Va. -- Five Virginia Commonwealth players finished indouble-figure points and the Rams exploded for 43 second-half points toearn a 74-53 victory over Colonial Athletic Association rival Old Dominionin men's basketball Saturday afternoon at the ALLTEL Pavilion at the StuartC. Siegel Center. ODU drops to 12-15 overall and 7-8 in the CAA.
Old Dominion played without the CAA's leading rebounder, CliftonJones (Pleasantville, NJ.) who has a deep left thigh bruise suffered in theGeorge Mason game earlier in the week.
Rasheed Wright (Greensboro, NC.) led the Monarchs with 18 points,hittingon 13-of-13 free throws. Ricardo Marsh (Mebane, NC.) added ten points andled withfive rebounds.
VCU led by five points, 31-26, at halftime but outscored theMonarchs 16-8 in the opening minutes of the second half to take a commaning47-34 lead with 13:38 left to play. The Rams held ODU to just 23.1% (6-26)shooting after intermission and the Monarchs never could get to the lead towithin single digits after VCU's early-second period run.
Freshmen Domonic Jones (Chesterfield, Va./Manchester) and JohnnieStory (Hampton, Va./Hampton) led a balanced Rams' offensive attack with 12points each, while senior Bo Jones (Richmond, Va./Huguenot) scored all ofhis 10 points in the second half to help VCU pull away. The Rams alsoreceived 10 points each from senior L.F. Likcholitov (St. Petersburg,Russia/St. Petersburg St. Tech. Univ.) and sophomore Willie Taylor (Smryna,Tenn./LaVergne), and the inside duo combined for 17 rebounds as the Ramsowned a 40-31 overall advantage on the boards.
With the win VCU improved to 16-12 overall and 9-6 in CAA play andassured itself of its first winning season since the 1996-97 campaign. TheRams also won for the 11th straight time in the ALLTEL Pavilion and uppedits record to 12-1 on their home floor this season.
The Monarchs host UNC Wilmington Monday night in the final regularseason home game at 7:35 p.m. in the fieldhouse. The four Monarchsseniors,Andre McCullum (Whiteville, NC.), Heath Burris (Va. Beach, Va.), CliftonJones (Pleasantville, NJ.) and Michael Williams (Thomasville, Ga.) willbe honored before the game.