Rams edge Albany in Bracket Buster battle

It was a close game in the first half, but it didn’t become an exciting game until the second half when VCU pulled ahead of Albany, sealing the win 70-67 in ESPN’s Bracket Buster game Friday.

After leading the entire first half, which both coaches agreed was somewhat sloppy, the Rams relinquished their lead to the Great Danes 10 minutes into the second half, and from there it was a series of back-and-forth offensive battles that built up to war down the stretch.

“Both teams were kind of getting used to seeing each other, kind of feeling each other out and in the second half it just turned into this kind of a shoot-out,” Rams’ head coach Jeff Capel said.

The Great Danes took their first lead with 10 minutes left in the game but held the lead for less than 4 minutes. Alexander Harper’s (Columbia, S.C.) 3-pointer gave the Rams a one-point edge with about 7 minutes to go, but then the Great Danes leading scorer, Jamar Wilson, answered 20 seconds later by breaking down the Rams and hitting a layup to give Albany the lead again. This flip-flop of the score would continue with six lead changes in the last 4 minutes of the game.

Each possession seemed to be the possession of the night for both teams from the time the Danes fought back to get the lead from the Rams.

“We put ourselves in a position to win in the closing minutes,” Great Danes’ head coach Will Brown said. “I think what happened is VCU made some real tough shots down the stretch and you have to give their kids some credit, and I think we made some plays. And it came down it was a one possession game.”

Most of the Great Danes’ plays and points came from Wilson, an America East conference player of the year candidate, who scored 21of his 28 points in the second half, along with Brent Wilson, who got 14 of his 17 in the second half.

Jamar Wilson exploded to the basket in the first half also, but the bucket became easier to find in the second half as he helped carry his team close to victory by either driving to the basket or finding Brent Wilson on the perimeter.

“They played good defense, and obviously I did score… but I don’t take anything away from them. They played hard and they played well,” Jamar Wilson said.

After Jamar and Brent Wilson, the Great Danes’ next leading scorer was Brian Lillis with six points. The Rams on the other hand had contributions from numerous players.

Freshman guard Eric Maynor (Fayetteville, N.C.) put the Rams on top of the final lead change for the night with a layup. After Jamar Wilson hit one of two free throws from the line, Jamal Shuler (Jacksonville, N.C.), who subbed-in for a fouled-out Harper, stepped up and hit a contested pull-up jumper to put the Rams up three with 15 seconds to go. After that, the Great Danes were in foul mode and grabbed onto Maynor, who hit both free throws.

“I was thinking about them one at a time,” Maynor said about the free throws. “I was definitely confident before I went up there.”

Both Maynor and Shuler finished with nine points as the Rams had four players within a point or two of double figures to complement Harper’s 11 and Nick George’s (Manchester, England) 23 points.

A major factor in the win was the Rams’ defensive pressure that Brown said was more than any other program the Great Danes have faced, which include Florida and UCLA. The Rams pressure helped produce 20 turnovers from the Danes and nine steals for the Rams.

“It’s to the point now like if the ball is on the floor, I know I got to go out there and get it, ’cause if not I’m going to be on the bench because coach is going to pull me out,” Maynor said.

How close was the first half? The score was 24-22 (VCU). How exciting was the second half? The teams scored 45 and 46 points each, respectively.

The Rams look to continue their success when they host conference rival UNC Wilmington Thursday.