‘Cats claw back, down Rams

Noah Fleischman, Sports Editor

Men’s Basketball fell to Davidson 64-57 on the road Saturday afternoon, despite a 16-0 run early in the second half.

The Rams used two three’s from junior guard De’Riante Jenkins, including the long three that sparked the run. He finished the afternoon with 10 points and four rebounds.

“We just came out knowing the shots were going to fall,” redshirt-junior guard Marcus Evans said. “And, came out the second half, it did. And it just added on.”

Davidson erased the 12-point lead that VCU built up after its big run, as Wildcats star Kellan Grady hit two three’s in the second half. Grady had 21 points for the Rams, 12 in the second half.

“When you play a good team and you have a lead, you don’t want to beat yourself and I thought, at times, we did today,” coach Mike Rhoades said after the loss.

The Rams had 13 turnovers in the contest, and the Wildcats scored 14 points off the VCU errors.   

KiShawn Pritchett tied the game at 55 late in the second half to cap off a 7-0 run that spanned 1:42. He finished with six points for Davidson.

Evans and Jenkins both shot quick three’s in the final minute in an effort to pull the Rams close — but both missed.

“When you go down two or three possessions, you want to get it back,” Rhoades said. “You don’t have to bomb threes, you go to the rim and put the pressure on the defense. We talked about it, we didn’t execute it so that is something we can really improve on right away.”

Evans finished with a team-high 16 points, seven rebounds and two assists.

“I thought today [Evans] did a really good job at getting the ball hot and starting our offense,” Rhoades said. “Even though he made some plays himself, I thought he had that ball moving and it really scrambled their defense. That’s why I think other guys were getting shots, other guys were getting opportunities at the rim.”

The first four minutes of the game yielded only eight points total, four apiece. A scoring drought set in for both teams until midway through the first half.

VCU and Davidson went back-and-forth in the first half as they traded baskets. The Wildcats closed the first half on a 5-0 run to take a five-point lead into the locker room.

The Rams shot 30.8 percent in the first half from the field, including 15.4 percent from beyond the arc.