VCU Rams Survive Scare, Beat St. Josephs Hawks In OT (Video)


Darius Theus

Geoff Burke- US Presswire

The No. 23 VCU Rams made things interesting for a boisterous home crowd at the Siegel Center last night. VCU defeated the St. Joseph’s Hawks 92-86 in overtime, lifting them to a 3-0 record within the A10.

The Rams knew this wasn’t going to be an easy task; the Hawks were preseason conference favorites, and returned every player from last year’s squad.

“I’ll give St. Joes credit,” said senior point guard Darius Theus. “They battled, but  I’ve got to give it to the guys in white tonight. They battled, too.”

Theus, who was averaging only 5.9 points a game, had his way against the Hawks with a career- high 22 points, including the lay-up that sent the match to overtime.

“I thought our guys showed a lot of resolve at the end of the game when we lost the lead and St. Joes was making big plays,” said VCU coach Shaka Smart. “Darius was phenomenal, if it wasn’t for him, we had no chance to win. He was terrific, did everything you want a senior guard to do”

One of those baskets came with a beautiful no-look, over-the-shoulder pass from Juvonte Reddic.

The Rams have depth, which will pay big dividends moving forward.  Troy Daniels, who leads the country in 3’s made per game, missed his first eight attempts last night but found the basket with 13 seconds remaining.

St. Josephs was forced to respect Daniels’s long range ability, and locked him down. This opened up holes for Theus, and Treveon Graham.

This was the kind of win that VCU needed, a tough, gritty, last minute victory over a conference opponent.

The Rams know they have a target on their backs, and have emerged as the team to beat in the A10.

“We’re getting a heck of an introduction to the Atlantic 10 with these last three games,” said Smart. Obviously it doesn’t show any signs of stopping . Every team we play is coming at us.”

 

Make sure to follow this writer on twitter @SeanLabar

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