National Basketball Association
Saint Louis 62, VCU 56
When: 1:00 PM ET, Sunday, March 17, 2013
Where: Barclays Center, Brooklyn, New York
Officials:
# Mike Roberts, # Wally Rutecki, # Earl Walton
Attendance:
N/A
By SportsDirect Inc.
No. 16 Saint Louis 62, No. 22 VCU 56: Kwamain Mitchell scored 19 points and Dwayne Evans added 16 as the top-seeded Billikens held off a late charge to win their first Atlantic 10 tournament title.
Cody Ellis scored all nine of his points in the final 10:32 for Saint Louis (27-6), which added the tournament title to its outright regular-season crown to make a case for a higher seed in the NCAA Tournament.
Treveon Graham racked up 20 points and 12 rebounds and Juvonte Reddic added 15 points and eight boards for second-seeded Virginia Commonwealth (26-8), which went 3-for-18 from 3-point range and shot 33.9 percent overall.
Evans made a pair of free throws to put the Billikens ahead 45-32 with 11:45 left, but that's when the Rams turned up the defensive intensity and began to wreak havoc. VCU forced turnovers on four of five possessions during a 13-1 run while holding Saint Louis without a field goal for nearly four minutes.
Ellis snapped the drought with a 3-pointer from the right wing and nailed another 3 from the right corner to make it 57-51 with 2:18 left and help Saint Louis hang on.
GAME NOTEBOOK: Saint Louis has won 15 of its last 16, with the only loss coming in overtime at Xavier. … The Rams led only once - at 2-0. The Billikens answered with an 11-0 run and never trailed again. … Graham, VCU's leading scorer, shot 6-for-17 a day after going 1-for-12 for three points in a semifinal win over Massachusetts.
Top Game Performances
| VCU |
|
Saint Louis |
|
Treveon Graham 20 |
Scoring |
Kwamain Mitchell 19 |
|
Darius Theus 2 |
Assists |
Mike McCall Jr. 4 |
|
Treveon Graham 12 |
Rebounds |
Dwayne Evans 8 |
|
Treveon Graham 6 |
Free Throws Made |
Dwayne Evans 8 |
|
Rob Brandenberg 2 |
Steals |
Kwamain Mitchell 3 |
|
Jarred Guest 1 |
Blocks |
Grandy Glaze 1 |
Team Stats Summary
| Team |
Points |
FG% |
3PM-3PA |
FTM-FTA |
Assists |
Rebounds |
Blocks |
Steals |
Turnovers |
| VCU
|
56 |
33.9 |
3-18 |
15-21 |
5 |
32 |
2 |
8 |
13 |
| Saint Louis
|
62 |
45.0 |
5-14 |
21-33 |
13 |
30 |
2 |
8 |
18 |