Burgess helps VCU turn back Georgia State

Freshman Bradford Burgess' first experience at the Coliseum came during a shootaround Thursday. He didn't notice any problem with all the open space behind the goals or with the rims.

That tends to happen when you don't miss.

Burgess and his Virginia Commonwealth teammates went against an early theme in the Colonial Athletic Association tournament -- wretched 3-point shooting -- to turn back Georgia State 61-52 in the quarterfinals yesterday.

The top-seeded C6 and had 11 points. Senior Eric Maynor hit 3 of 4 treys and scored 16 of his 18 points in the second half.

Burgess said he didn't hear about the first round, when three of the games featured 17-of-93 shooting frombehind the line. He didn't know until it was mentioned in the postgame press conference.

"I don't pay any attention to that," he said. "The rims are a little tighter, but other than that, it's just basketball."

Burgess didn't take a shot in the first half, when VCU used a 9-0 run --punctuated by Larry Sanders' followup dunk a fraction before the buzzer --to go to the locker roomwith a 24-15 lead. Rams coach Anthony Grant told Burgess he "was taking a backseat to all the action."

Less than 90 seconds into the half, he drained a 3-pointer.

"The play before that, I tried to get it into Kirill Pishchalnikov], and they kicked it out of bounds," Burgess said. "Coach was right behind me and told me, 'You've got to be ready to make a play.'"

Burgess followed his first 3-pointer with another one that put the Rams up by 13. Back-to-back 3-pointers by Maynor and Brandon Rozzell (12 points) made it 44-27 with 12 minutes left.

"We kind of relaxed," Burgess said, "and that's when it all fell apart."

Behind Joe Dukes (23 points) and Rashad Chase (all eight points in the second half), the Panthers whittled the lead to seven with 6 minutes left. Three-pointers by Maynor and Burgess kept Georgia State from creeping closer.

During a seven-minute stretch, all of VCU's points came on five 3-pointers.

"We made some timely shots," Grant said. "I thought Bradford stepped up in the second half especially and did what he was capable of doing every game. He was willing to make a play. Eric made some timely ones.

"It seemed like we were able to make shots as they were in the midst of runs. Unfortunately, we didn't defend and get stops in timely situations like we needed to."

Grant said he told his team after the game that while it didn't play its best, it did the most important thing: survive. The Rams know they will have to be better today if they want to play for the championship and an NCAA tournament berth. They were eliminated in the semifinals last year.

"The main word here is win," Maynor said. "This is the round we went out in last year. It won't happen this year. We're going to be focused and ready to go."

Contact Tim Pearrell at (804) 649-6965 or tpearrell@timesdispatch.com.

GEORGIA STATE (12-20)

M FG FT R PF A Pts Hampton------------------------- 13 0-0 0-0 4 1 0 0 Chase------------------------- 35 3-6 2-2 6 3 1 8 Dukes------------------------- 27 9-16 4-7 6 3 2 23 Goldston------------------------- 32 2-8 2-2 2 1 1 7 Mendez------------------------- 24 2-7 1-1 0 1 1 5 Fields------------------------- 12 0-2 0-0 0 3 1 0 Curry------------------------- 17 0-4 0-0 0 1 0 0 Hansbro------------------------- 20 2-6 0-0 5 2 0 6 Krubally------------------------- 15 0-2 2-2 6 0 1 2 Lott------------------------- 0+ 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 0 Team 1 Totals 18-51 11-14 30 15 7 51

VCU (22-9)

M FG FT R PF A Pts Sanders------------------------- 32 4-7 0-2 6 4 0 8 Pishchalnikov------------------------- 24 1-3 0-2 6 1 0 2 Maynor------------------------- 34 7-11 1-2 2 3 4 18 Rodriguez------------------------- 30 1-3 0-0 2 3 3 3 Burgess------------------------- 31 4-4 0-0 5 1 2 11 Saintil------------------------- 4 0-0 1-2 1 1 0 1 Rozzell------------------------- 18 4-9 2-2 1 1 1 12 Smith------------------------- 0+ 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 0 Gwynn------------------------- 13 2-2 2-2 2 2 0 6 Nixon------------------------- 14 0-3 0-0 1 0 2 0 Team 2 Totals 23-42 6-12 28 16 12 61
GSU ------------------------- 15 36 -- 51
VCU ------------------------- 24 37 -- 61