Rams to face Patriots in championship

The 2007 CAA Men’s Basketball Championship
7 p.m. tonight, Richmond Coliseum
VCU students get in free with student ID

Follow the game on the CT’s blog at www.commonwealthtimes.com and http://ct.vcustudentmedia.com/blog

Injured Jesse Pellot-Rosa (Richmond, Va./George Wythe) led the top-seeded Rams through a 12-0 second-half run by Drexel to win Sunday. The fourth-ranked Dragons fell 63-56 in the CAA quarterfinals. The Rams will battle George Mason for the title Monday night.

VCU head coach Anthony Grant praised the senior’s performance after the game.

“He did a great job today battling through the arch injury,” Grant said. “He’s a tough kid, and if he can go, he’s going to go. He gave us a great lift.”

Michael Anderson (Va. Beach, Va./Landstown) matched Pellot-Rosa’s 16 points while keeping tabs on center Frank Elegar, who paced the Dragons with 15. Anderson and Elegar each nabbed eight rebounds. VCU also frustrated the Drexel backcourt, which made only 3-of-16 behind the arch, versus 7-of-11 for the Rams.

“I thought that the last three minutes of the half, we were terrible. We threw balls away, and they got baskets,” Drexel head coach Bruiser Flint said following the game.

The Score
VCU 63
DREXEL 56

The game started out looking like a dogfight, with a tiny lead changing hands frequently. Two quick fouls kept Eric Maynor (Fayetteville, N.C./Westover) on the bench for nearly all of the first half. Matt Coward (Richmond, Va./Hermitage) kept the offense running, and the Rams kept the game tight despite less than optimal shooting.

Elegar led the Dragons with eight in the half, but struggled to get more than dunks left open by the double-teams on Chaz Crawford. Pellot-Rosa, who hurt his foot in Saturday’s game against Georgia State, had 10 in the first half.

The Dragons hit the locker room with a 10-point deficit, and guard Dominick Meija made his first point of the game to start the second half. The lead grew to 15 with 15:44 left and maxed out at 48-30 following two three-pointers by Pellot-Rosa.

QUICK FACTS

VCU’s Mike Anderson has exploded with 28 points in the tourney.

GMU has pulled two upsets, topping Hofstra and ODU after trouncing Delaware.

VCU swept the season-series against the Patriots with 75-62 and 63-49 wins.

GMU has kept their opponents to .343 shooting and .219 on three-pointers.

But the shots started falling for Drexel, which closed the score to 48-42 at 9:00 with a 12-0 run capped by two free throws by Brashir Mason. They missed their next four shots, but an and-one by Meija shrunk the lead to 55-49 with 2:20 left. The Dragon’s luck ran out, and the Rams closed the game with 5-of-8 free throws as Mason and Sean Rogers fouled out.

Grant knew the Rams were at risk considering Drexel’s road wins at Villanova, St. Joseph’s and Creighton.

“We were fortunate to win the game today. Drexel is the team that deserves the bid in the NCAA tournament,” he said.

Flanked by the visibly choked-up Mason and Crawford, Flint kept his head up about Selection Sunday, especially following GMU’s 64-61 upset of Hostra.

“I hope that our body of work speaks for itself,” he said. “They give you a formula of what they want us to do, and we did it.”

In the late game, GMU pulled a second upset by knocking out the Monarchs, 79-63. Folarin Campbell and Dre Smith combined for 39 points off the bench. ODU struggled offensively, and shot 35.4 percent.

Tonight’s game will be a rematch of the 2004 championship, when VCU topped Mason, 55-54.