Rams pound hapless Towson, 66-43

By: Tim Pearrell | Richmond Times-Dispatch
Published: February 08, 2012

Bradford Burgess took a pass from Teddy Okereafor late in the first half, spotted up outside the 3-point line and confidently made a 3-pointer.

Virginia Commonwealth has been waiting for a breakout shooting game from its senior guard/forward, and Burgess finally provided it.

With Burgess scoring 22 points, VCU eased past turnover-prone Towson 66-43 Wednesday in front of the 16^th consecutive sellout crowd at the Siegel Center.

His timing was good. The Rams (21-5, 12-2), who have won 10 in a row and 18 of their past 20, start a critical stretch against other Colonial Athletic Association leaders that will go a long way toward determining the regular-season title.

VCU plays at archrival Old Dominion (11-3) Saturday. The Rams follow that with a road game at George Mason (12-2).

Burgess had been quiet in the past four games, scoring eight, eight, nine and six points, but he was starting to show signs of coming out of his slump.

He was 8 of 15 from the floor against Towson (1-25, 1-13), including 6 of 11 from behind the arc.

D.J. Haley added career highs in points (10) and rebounds (11) and had the highlight play of the evening with a steal and dunk. Guarding 6-foot-8 Robert Nwankwo up high, the 7-foot Haley deflected the ball, picked it up, sped past Nwankwo on the dribble and stuffed the ball left-handed.

The Rams had a hard time defending Nwankwo, who had 19 points and nine rebounds. Towson, which lost to VCU 67-42 on Jan. 25, committed 28 turnovers.

Burgess had 13 points on 5-of-9 shooting the Rams took a 32-20 lead in a first half that at times had little rhythm.

VCU got him going with an inside feed on its second possession. He followed that less than a minute later with another inside bucket, then nailed a 3-pointer to give the Rams a 9-4 lead.

VCU had a 20-16 lead late in the half when Darius Theus hit a jumper, Haley had a dunk and Burgess hit another trey to spark a 9-0 spurt.

The Rams harassed Towson point guard Kris Walden (Henrico High) constantly with traps. The Tigers had 13 turnovers against VCU’s pressure but stayed afloat by feeding the ball to Nwankwo and collecting seven offensive rebounds.

Nwankwo had half of Towson’s first-half points and six rebounds.

Walden finished with two points, six assists and five turnovers.