VCU sets 3-pointers record in rout of Towson

If there were any questions about Virginia Commonwealth's state of mind, they were answered quickly and in resounding fashion last night.

The Rams set a team record and tied a Colonial Athletic Association mark by making 20 3-pointers. With a lights-out shooting performance from Bradford Burgess in particular and everybody in general, plus a passing exhibition from Joey Rodriguez, the Rams destroyed undermanned Towson 112-53 before 5,384 at the Siegel Center.

The Rams scored the most points in the 10-year history of the Siegel Center and their most since beating Southeastern 120-69 on Dec. 9, 1978. They rained 3-pointer after 3-pointer - hitting 20 of 33 - and shot 63.1 percent overall (41 of 65).

They dominated the boards 46-21 and kept Towson (1-9, 4-16) from ever getting into the game. The Tigers, who played without injured starters Robert Nwankwo and Brian Morris, shot 35.7 percent. Calvin Lee, a Matoaca High graduate, picked up four fouls in the first half and finished with nine points.

This was a focused and determined performance from a team (6-4, 14-5) coming off a disappointing loss to Northeastern and a disappointing first half of the CAA season.

Now the question is, how do the Rams bottle that state of mind?

"It's the second half of the conference season," said forward Larry Sanders, who was 7 of 9 from the floor and had 17 points, 14 rebounds and two blocked shots. "I'm just tired of losing, man. That's something none of us are used to. Right now, I think we'll do anything not to lose. Anything."

Said VCU coach Shaka Smart: "It's a good thing to be in a place and a program and a situation where you win four out of five and that one loss gives a guy an indication that he's sick of losing . . . . There's nowhere I'd rather be than that, to have those sort of expectations both within our program and outside of our program."

Rodriguez said the Northeastern loss, which pretty much dropped VCU out of the hunt for a fourth consecutive regular-season title, "hurt us a lot."

"We came into practice Monday, and we talked about where we were as a team at this time in the season," he said. "We challenged each other to start the second half of the CAA season fresh. We had good practices. I thought our state of mind was come out and get stops and play how we play. We did that really well tonight."

If this were a hockey game, there would have been a fight for first stars. Burgess hit 6 of 8 3-pointers and finished with 22 points. Brandon Rozzell hit 4 of 5 treys and had 16 points. Jay Gavin, a starter earlier in the season who hadn't played in three games because of what Smart earlier called a "coaches decision," made all four of his 3-pointers and had 14 points.

The real star, though, may have been Rodriguez. The 5-10 junior point guard had only three points, but in 22 minutes, he racked up 13 assists, the most in the conference this season.

Three times in the first half, he zipped bounce passes from more than 20 feet through Towson's zone for dunks or layups. There was a little showmanship, too. On a breakaway layup, Rodriguez bounced the ball off the glass to a trailing Sanders for a dunk.

For all the offensive pyrotechnics, Smart said he was most proud of what the Rams did on the defensive end. Towson's 53 points were the third-fewest allowed by VCU this season.

"We followed through on our decision following the Northeastern game," he said, "to rededicate ourselves to the defensive end and all the little things that go into getting stops."

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

TOWSON (1-9 CAA, 4-16)


M FG FT R PF A Pt Philmore------------------------- 36 4-5 3-3 5 3 1 11 Brown------------------------- 24 1-3 0-0 1 0 2 2 Ja. Smith------------------------- 28 3-9 5-8 1 0 1 12 Thornton------------------------- 27 5-14 0-0 2 0 1 12 Lee------------------------- 27 4-11 0-0 4 4 0 9 Ji. Smith------------------------- 12 0-1 0-1 2 1 0 0 Polk------------------------- 16 2-6 0-0 2 4 1 5 Brewster------------------------- 3 0-1 0-0 0 0 1 0 Franklin------------------------- 12 1-4 0-0 0 0 3 2 Quinn------------------------- 16 0-2 0-0 4 1 0 0 Team Totals ------------------------- 20-56 8-12 21 13 10 53

VCU (6-4, 14-5)


M FG FT R PF A Pt Sanders------------------------- 19 7-9 3-5 14 1 2 17 Rodriguez------------------------- 22 1-4 0-0 3 0 13 3 Burgess------------------------- 14 8-10 0-0 5 3 1 22 Skeen------------------------- 15 1-2 1-4 2 2 0 4 Rozzell------------------------- 19 5-6 2-2 2 0 2 16 Gavin------------------------- 10 4-4 2-2 1 1 0 14 Grayson------------------------- 8 1-3 0-0 1 0 0 3 Saintil------------------------- 6 2-3 1-2 2 1 0 5 Theus------------------------- 18 1-4 0-0 1 0 5 2 Pishchalnikov-------------------- 12 0-1 0-0 5 0 1 4 Daniels------------------------- 16 3-4 0-0 0 2 0 9 Hinton------------------------- 9 0-3 0-0 2 0 1 0 Gwynn------------------------- 17 5-7 1-1 4 3 0 11 Nixon------------------------- 15 1-3 0-0 2 1 5 2 Team 6 Totals ------------------------- 41-65 10-16 46 14 30 112

Towson ------------------------- 32 21 - 53
VCU ------------------------- 55 57 - 112

3-point goals - Towson (5-21): Thornton 2-6, Lee 1-3, Ja.Smith 1-3, Polk 1-4, Brewster 0-1, Ji.Smith 0-1, Brown 0-1, Franklin 0-2. VCU (20-33): Burgess 6-8, Gavin 4-4, Rozzell 4-5, Daniels 3-4, Skeen 1-2, Grayson 1-3, Rodriguez 1-4, Theus 0-1, Nixon 0-2.

Turnovers - Towson (13): Polk 4, Brown 3, Ji.Smith 2, Thornton 2, Franklin 2. VCU (10): Sanders 2, Rozzell 2, Rodriguez 2, Daniels, Grayson, Hinton, Nixon.

Blocked shots - Towson (1): Ji.Smith. VCU (2): Sanders 2.

Steals - Towson (6): Ja.Smith 2, Brown, Philmore, Thornton, Ji.Smith. VCU (7): Rodriguez 3, Theus 2, Rozzell, Gwynn.

A - 5,384.