OeNZT Blog

ODU’s Ben Finney (35) and VCU’s Juvonte Reddic (5) battle during the CAA championship game at the Richmond Coliseum.

Down 18 in the second half, Virginia Commonwealth University nearly pulled off a dramatic comeback.

    But the deficit was too much to overcome, and the Rams fell 70-65 to Old Dominion in the Colonial Athletic Association championship game Monday night.

    VCU got within one, 55-54, with 4:26 left in the game. But ODU, which had a huge rebounding margin (38-23), got two critical tip-ins to get some breathing room.

    The Monarchs (27-6), who earned the CAA’s automatic bid to the NCAA tournament, will be making their fourth NCAA appearance in seven years and 11th overall.

    VCU (23-11) saw its RPI climb to 49 after its tournament victories over Drexel and Mason, but the Rams more likely will be ticketed for the National Invitation Tournament.

    Five unanswered points out of halftime turned a 13-point ODU lead into a 44-26 pad with 17:34 left.

    VCU, though, got the game into a more desperate pace and went on an 11-0 run. Bradford Burgess’ follow shot made it 46-39 with 11:57 left.

    Still down seven with a little more than seven minutes left, Jamie Skeen slid along the baseline, made a reverse layup, drew a foul and made the free throw to draw VCU within four.

     Burgess’ 3-pointer from the corner made it 55-54 with 4:26 left. ODU, though, got tips from Chris Cooper and Kent Bazemore.

    ODU big man Frank Hassell finished with 22 points and nine rebounds. Kent Bazemore added 14 points and six assists.

    Burgess had 19 points and eight rebounds. Skeen, limited by foul trouble, had two points in the first half. He finished with 18.

    ODU built a 39-26 halftime lead behind hot shooting, a zone that left VCU trying to score from the perimeter and another dominating effort on the boards.

    The Monarchs made eight of their first 10 shots on the way to a 21-11 bulge. VCU recovered and pulled within two on Ed Nixon’s 3-pointer at the 7:46 mark, but back-to-back 3-pointers by Trian Iliadis and Bazemore put ODU back in control.

    The Monarchs are not known as a 3-point shooting team, but they made 5 of 7 treys in the first half. They were 14 of 22 from the floor.

    VCU, meanwhile, took 24 shots. Thirteen were from behind the 3-point arc. The Rams made six. They were also just 2 of 8 at the foul line.

    VCU and ODU split during the regular season. In their first meeting in Norfolk, VCU held ODU to 50 points and won by nine. The Rams were only outrebounded by four (35-31).

     In their second meeting at the Siegel Center, ODU scored 70 points and won by 11. The Monarchs had a whopping 46-21 rebounding advantage.

    This time it was even more pronounced in the first half. The Monarchs had a commanding 20-6 margin on the boards, including five on the offensive end.

    Hassell came down with a rebound with 5:10 remaining in the half. Nixon was behind him and caught an elbow in the mouth. He went to the locker room to receive stitches, but returned in the second half.

    The game was delayed after just 1:06 of play while crews tried to clean powder off the floor. ODU’s mascot, Big Blue, did a LeBron James imitation during the pregame introductions. He threw powder in the air, and it landed all over the court under the basket near ODU’s bench and made the floor slick.

     Nixon slipped after missing a layup and was slow getting up. Crews spent a lot of time mopping and using towels clean it up.

    The Monarchs became the fourth CAA team to win back-to-back titles. UNC Wilmington won in 2002-03, Richmond in 1990-91, and Navy in 1986-87.