Walker, Harper help knock off Tigers

On pace for a blowout, the men’s basketball game between VCU and Towson became a nail-biter near the end. Ultimately it was the early lead that the Rams put on the Tigers that earned them an 81-75 win.

Scoring

Towson

Hamm 14
Abraham 13
Crossin 1
Coleman 3
Neal 36
Pratt 4
Jackson 0
Tubbs 1

VCU

George 12
Faulk 5
Walker 22
Pellot-Rosa 12
Harper 17
Maynor 4
Anderson 0
Davis 2
Shuler 7

Gary Neal almost carried the Tigers to their first-ever victory over the Rams with 24 second-half points, but a defensive adjustment by VCU coach Jeff Capel kept the ball out of Neal’s hands for two crucial possessions. Down the stretch of game, the Rams slowed down the Tigers’ 6-minute, 15-5 run that chipped away at a 15-point Rams lead.

The Rams outrebounded, outpassed and outscored their opponent in the first half as they took advantage of the man-to-man defense and standard 2-3 zone defense the Tigers played.

Leading the Rams through their strong first half were senior forward Nick George (Manchester, England) and junior guard B.A. Walker (Onancock/Nandua High School), scoring 12 and 11 points respectively as the Rams entered halftime up 42-28.

Walker continued his contributions in the second half and ended the game with 22 points, but George sprained his ankle in the first few minutes of the half and was unable to return. The injury seemingly happened out of nowhere, even taking some players off-guard.

“It surprised me,” senior guard Alexander Harper (Columbia, S.C.) said.

With George out, Harper took over the Rams offense in the second half, putting up eight points in a 10-point stretch. Harper finished the half with 15 points and the game with 17 points, seven rebounds and five assists.

“I thought Alexander Harper was tremendous for us,” Capel said. “He made tough plays.”

In guarding Neal, Harper also drew the toughest assignment of the night.

“(Neal) is a tough player to guard,” Harper said. “We knew that we didn’t have someone to stop him but we had people to guard him,” he said.

Though the only open shots Neal saw were at the free-throw line, he still got hot in the second half making tough shot after tough shot. The Rams kept their distance from the Tigers despite Neal’s attack on the basket until Towson coach Pat Kennedy switched defensive philosophies by going to a trapping zone.

“Obviously they were hurting us,” he said. “At least it slows people down.”

The Rams offense had trouble finding their shot during this stretch, which enabled Neal and the Tigers to shave a 15-point lead to five. Neal was responsible for 11 of the Tigers’ 15 points during the charge and finished with 36 points on the night.

“He’s good,” Capel said. “When you have a guy like that who is that good offensively, then compliment the fact that he has an ultimate green light, he is going to play every minute. There is no such thing as a bad shot for him (and) that makes guys like that even more difficult to guard.”

Capel’s response to Neal’s love affair with the ball and basket was to put a defense on the floor that kept the ball out of Neal’s hands.

With Neal unable to get the ball, the Tigers turned to their second-leading scorer Lawrence Hamm to cut the Rams’ then five-point lead down. On two straight possessions the Tigers turned to Hamm with a minute and half to go but he was unable to come through, and with time running out the Tigers were forced to foul.

With the lead still intact, the Rams put the game on ice with smooth free-throw shooting, giving the Rams their fifth win in a row. With the victory the Rams kept alive two streaks, extending their perfect home record to 10-0 and keeping the Tigers winless against the Rams in 10 tries.