Wildcats down nine lives, VCU wins NIT first round, 70-61
VCU second-year forward Toibu “Tobi” Lawal heads to the timeout huddle. The Rams swipe the Villanova Wildcats, 70-61, to move on to the second round of the National Invitational Tournament. Courtesy photo by VCU Athletics.
Thai Wilson, Sports Editor
The Rams beat Villanova, 70-61, in the first round of the National Invitational Tournament on Wednesday, March 20.
The game started with the Rams and Wildcats trading buckets, and the Rams led 8-7 with 16 minutes left in the first half.
The Wildcats went on a 6-0 run, but then VCU redshirt first-year guard Alphonzo Billups III made two three-pointers and tied the game 14-14.
Billups ended the half with nine points, all of which were scored from the 3-point line, leading the Rams in scoring.
Twenty out of 31 of VCU’s first-half points were scored by players that came off the bench.
The Rams and Wildcats traded buckets until the Wildcats took a 21-19 lead with four minutes remaining in the first half.
The Rams then went on a 5-0 run to take back the lead at 24-21 lead with three minutes remaining.
The black and gold and Villanova continued to go back and forth after this, but the Rams led 31-30 after a buzzer-beater 3-pointer by Villanova second-year guard Mark Armstrong.
The second half started similarly to the first with back-and-forth buckets between the Rams and the Wildcats for the first 12 minutes.
VCU second-year forward Toibu “Tobi” Lawal capped off a 7-0 run with two free throws to give the Rams a 53-49 lead with eight minutes remaining.
VCU graduate student forward Kuany Kuany continued the run to 10-0 with a three-pointer in the corner, giving the Rams a 56-49 lead, which was the Rams’ biggest lead of the game.
Villanova redshirt fourth-year forward Eric Dixon was fouled two possessions in a row on shot attempts and he made all four free-throw attempts, which lowered the Ram’s lead to 56-53 with six minutes remaining.
Dixon went on an 8-0 run to give the Wildcats a 58-57 lead at the five-minute mark of the second half.
The Rams were in the lead, 60-58, after two more Lawal free throws going into the under-four-minute media timeout.
The black and gold started an 8-0 run out of the media timeout and this gave them a 66-58 point lead with one minute and 36 seconds remaining.
The Rams never gave up the lead back to the Wildcats and won comfortably after two dunks off of inbounding players by Lawal and VCU fourth-year guard Joe Bamisile.
Bamisile’s dunk gave the Rams the 70-61 lead at the final buzzer moving the Rams to the second round of the NIT.
The Rams will face off against the University of Utah on Wednesday, March 27 at 9:00 p.m. in Salt Lake City, Utah.
