Rally by Pirates can’t stop VCU

Hampton slices big deficit with 17-0 run before Rams prevail

RICHMOND — With an inspired comeback in the second half, Hampton University was nearly there. But the hole was too big, and there wasn't enough time.

Trailing by 25 points with 9½ minutes remaining, the Pirates got as close as seven before running out of shots. VCU, which had dominated the first half and the opening 10 minutes of the second, held on for a 69-57 win Friday night at the Siegel Center.

Jermaine Marrow scored 17 of his 25 points in the final 8:19 as the Pirates (1-1) broke out of what had been a sluggish performance. His 3-pointer with 2:26 remaining cut the Rams' lead to 64-56, but HU would get no closer the rest of the way.

“The thing I like about this team is, they stayed together,” Hampton coach Buck Joyner said. “They stayed with it. If they had played the first half the way they played the last 10 minutes of the second half, it's a whole different ballgame.

“We have to learn from this and move on. We got our butts kicked, especially for 30 minutes of a 40-minute game. I'm proud of the way we responded and that they didn't give up. We'll learn from it and we'll bounce back.”

Hampton (1-1) led for only 44 seconds and trailed by double digits for almost 29 minutes. The Pirates shot 25 percent (8-of-40) from the field in the first and missed all 10 of their 3-point tries.

The Rams led 56-31 with 9:31 remaining and 57-33 a minute later. But over the next 4 minutes and 12 seconds, the Pirates scored 17 consecutive points. Marrow scored the first 14 in the run, and Kalin Fisher went 3-of-3 from the free-throw line to cut VCU's lead to 57-50.

VCU's Marcus Evans ended the drought with a 3-pointer, and Marcus Santos-Silva dunked to make it a 12-point game. But Hampton stuck with it, and Marrow's 3 off the dribble made it 64-56 with 2:26 left.

“We knew they wouldn't go away,” VCU coach Mike Rhoades said.

But after Marrow missed a forced runner, Evans went 2-of-2 from the free-throw line to push the lead back to 10 with 1:33 left.

Joyner was proud of the comeback, but he also wants his team to understand what it did wrong to create the deficit.

“I told them at halftime, trust each other,” he said. “We got caught up in the atmosphere. We didn't convert because we got into a one-on-one type of game. We sped up, and that's what (VCU) wants to do.

“When we became more patient, we got open looks. That opened it up for Jermaine because other guys made open shots.”

Things started well for Hampton when Fisher hit a jumper 35 seconds in to put the Pirates ahead 2-0. That would be their only lead.

VCU led 8-6 with 14:46 remaining, but the game began slipping away from HU. Over the next nine minutes, the Rams outscored the Pirates 20-5. Hampton went 2-of-14 from the field in that stretch.

The Rams took their biggest lead of the half on a layup by KeShawn Curry, which made it 35-15 with 1:57 left.

Hampton shot 20 percent (8-of-40) from the field in the first 20 minutes. The Pirates were 0-of-10 from 3-point range and 3-of-7 from the free-throw line.