Willie Reed drives around a VCU defender, UPI Bill Greenblatt
Brandon Rozzell scored a game-high 27 points, including 17 in the second half, to lead Virginia Commonwealth to a 71-65 victory over Saint Louis Wednesday night at Chaifetz Arena. The win gave the Rams a 2-0 sweep of the Billikens in the College Basketball Invitational best-of-three championship series.
Willie Reed scored 16 points (7-of-11 FG) to lead Saint Louis, which finished the season with a 23-13 record. Cory Remekun (6-of-9 FG) and Christian Salecich tallied 13 points apiece.
In outscoring the Billikens 47-32 in the second half, the Rams shot 57% after the break. Saint Louis looked tired running with a short bench and shot just 38% in the second half and 11%(2-of-18) from three-point range.
Saint Louis started off great, jumping out to a 9-0 lead, but VCU went on their own 9-0 run with 11 minutes left in the first half for a 20-16 lead. From that point on, SLU dominated taking a 17-4 run into the break for a 33-24 lead.
The Billikens were up 40-31, when the Rams took over, outscoring SLU 17-8 to tie the game at 48-48. The game would go back and forth with both teams remaining tied at 61-61 before VCU took a four point lead and then hit six of eight free throws down the stretch to finish off the Billikens who finish the season 23-13.