HAMPTON—It wasn’t exactly Tylenol-free, but Virginia Commonwealth was able to avoid an Oklahoma hangover last night. Two days after whipping the 17th-ranked Sooners, the Rams had to work to overcome impatient shooting, sloppy turnovers and some malaise to shake off Hampton 63-52. “It certainly wasn’t the prettiest of victories,“ VCU coach Shaka Smart said, “but it was a ‘W.‘“

It wasn’t exactly Tylenol-free, but Virginia Commonwealth avoided an Oklahoma hangover last night. Two days after whipping the 17th-ranked Sooners, the Rams had to work to overcome off-target shooting and some sloppiness while shaking off Hampton 63-52. The Rams (3-1), who had lost four of their past five road games dating to last season, were able to avoid another road headache with a pair of second-half spurts.

Where: Hampton Convocation Center (cap. 7,200), Hampton
  Radio: WBBT (107.3)
  Projected starting lineups:
  Notable: The Rams lead the series 6-1. VCU has seven players averaging at least seven points. Brandon Rozzell and Ed Nixon are averaging 7.7 and 7.0, respectively. Jay Gavin is 7 for 14 on 3-pointers. Rozzell is 5 for 10. The Rams are shooting 77.6 percent at the foul line and are forcing 17.7 turnovers. They’re getting outrebounded 40.3-36.3.

The chair between Hampton basketball coach Ed Joyner Jr. and assistant coach Keith Coutreyer will sit empty tonight when the Pirates play host to Virginia Commonwealth. They will leave that chair open—except for the No. 12 jersey draped on it—for the rest of the season. Theo Smalling remains very much on the minds of his coaches and teammates almost a month after his death. Hampton’s captain was accidentally shot in the abdomen, according to police, outside a nightclub in the early morning hours of Oct. 24. He died two days later. His 22nd birthday was on the 23rd.

Alcoa Inc., the largest U.S. aluminum producer, will cut 250 jobs at a plant in Hampton because of falling parts orders for industrial gas turbines. The reductions represent about 24 percent of the 1,060 workers employed at the Alcoa Howmet plant, which is part of the company’s power and propulsion division, spokeswoman Jean Moorman said.

Gov. Timothy M. Kaine yesterday visited two cities hit especially hard by a drenching storm and flooding and heard appeals from residents for assistance. In Norfolk, Kaine stopped by the Ocean View section of the city. Part of the main thoroughfare, Ocean View Avenue, and a number of side streets, remain under water. Downed trees and power lines blocked other streets.

The Chesapeake Bay Foundation is lending its support to efforts to turn historic Fort Monroe into a national park when the Army leaves the post in 2011. “The sense I get is that it hasn’t been evaluated to the extent that it should be,“ said Christy Everett, the foundation’s Hampton Roads director. “If this isn’t an open-space opportunity, I don’t know what is.“

James Madison junior quarterback Drew Dudzik had a pin inserted in his fractured left foot on Monday, JMU coach Mickey Matthews said. Dudzik will be out at least six weeks, which probably means for the season. Dudzik suffered the injury in the third quarter of the Dukes’ 21-17 loss to Richmond on Saturday. Redshirt freshman Justin Thorpe (Varina High), recently named the starter after splitting time with Dudzik, now will get most of the playing time when the 16th-ranked Dukes (0-2 CAA, 2-3) play host to No.6 Villanova (2-1, 5-1) on Saturday.

R.J. Archer threw two touchdown passes and rushed for another score to lead William and Mary to a 33-14 victory over Central Connecticut State on Saturday night. Archer was 9 for 16 for 129 yards and one interception for the Tribe (2-0), which scored on four of its five first-half possessions. Sophomore running back Jonathan Grimes had 80 yards on 19 carries and became the first player in Tribe history to reach 1,000 career rushing yards in 13 games.

From the outside, Building 643 is not remarkable. A six-story, sea gull-colored warehouse, it blends into the patchwork of World War II-era structures at NASA Langley Research Center. Inside is another matter. A steel door opens into a cavernous room that hums with electricity. The faint smell of burnt circuits drifts in the air. Above, a pair of enormous fans rest opposite what appears to be a giant, pill-shaped void.

TODAY’S  STATE GAMES
  Where: Foster Stadium
(cap. 10,000), Lexington
  When: 1:30 p.m. Tickets: $20 reserved, $17 general admission, $10 youth/student
  Radio: WLEE (990), 1
  Records: Season opener
  Facts: VMI beat Robert Morris 40-13 in the only meeting in 2007. The Colonials, 5-6 a year ago, have 18 starters returning and are picked to finish fifth in the Northeast Conference. VMI has won its past four openers.

A Hampton couple is suing the city and its police department for $8.75 million, saying their rights were violated in a traffic stop last year when police searched the woman’s undergarments and ordered the man to take off his shoes and spread his legs. According to the lawsuit, when the woman asked why they were being searched, a female officer replied: “Because I can.“

A young man released from prison in 2007 for a wrongful robbery conviction avoided being sent back behind bars yesterday for violating probation. The General Assembly this year awarded Teddy P. Thompson a compensation package that included a $51,999 lump-sum payment and a $207,996 annuity—to be paid over 25 years—for the seven years he spent in prison for a robbery he did not commit.

The Chesapeake Bay Foundation is seeking volunteer oyster gardeners to grow oysters and return them next year for planting on sanctuary reefs in local waterways. A training course for new oyster gardeners will be held at 6:30 p.m. next Tuesday at Christopher Newport University. A $30 donation covers the cost of 1,000 native oyster seeds—baby oysters—and includes foundation membership.

Oyster reefs provide habitat for more than 300 types of plants and animals in the Chesapeake Bay.
Volunteers in the Chesapeake Bay Foundation’s oyster-gardening program grow about 300,000 oysters per year for restoration.
The three-dimensional nature of oyster reefs vastly increases the surface area available to not only oysters but other plants and animals that depend on hard substrate for all or part of their life cycle.