The Rams looked well on their way to sitting atop the Atlantic 10 standings Wednesday night, taking a 15-point lead into the half at St. Bonaventure. Shortly after exiting the locker room however, the wheels completely fells off.
St. Bonaventure snuffed VCU’s massive lead in just five minutes and seven seconds of second half action, erasing the Ram’s 40-25 halftime lead by outscoring VCU 18-3 to start the second. From there on out it was just more of the same, with St. Bonaventure continuing to pile it on in one of the toughest halves of basketball VCU Ram fans can remember, outscoring the black and gold by 31 in the second half to hold serve at home in the 70-54 win.
The Rams finished the game an impressive 44% from distance by hit just 11 of their 40 attempts inside the three-point line, a brutal 27.5% clip. Just two Rams finished with double-digit scoring on the night, led by Bones Hyland’s team-high 16 points on 5-14 shooting and Vince Williams’ 11 who was 4-11 from the field in the loss.
Hason Ward led all players with a game-high 10 rebounds to go with his eight points and three blocks. Levi Stockard chipped in eight points, seven rebounds, two assists and two steals for the Rams.
VCU did themselves no favors in the turnover category either in the loss, handing the ball over 19 times to the Bonnies’ 15 total turnovers. VCU out-rebounded Bona 42-37.
The loss drops VCU to a 6th place 3-2 record in Atlantic 10 play and 10-4 overall heading into a home contest against Dayton (8-3, 4-2) this Saturday. The Flyers swept the Rams this past season after VCU swept UD the season prior.
The win moves St. Bonaventure currently into sole-possession of first place in the Atlantic 10 standing at 5-1.
St. Louis, the conference’s lone ranked team, has yet to play a conference game.
