Brandon Rozzell scored a career-high 19 points and Virginia Commonwealth snapped a two-game losing streak by defeating Delaware 77-64 on Saturday at the Verizon Wireless Arena at the Stuart Siegel Center.
The Rams were without leading scorer and rebounder Larry Sanders, who sat on the bench serving a one-game suspension for a flagrant foul in Wednesday's game against Drexel.
The Rams built a 14-point first-half lead. But the Blue Hens scored on 11 of their final 15 possessions to cut the margin to 41-38 at halftime.
After shooting 52 percent in the first half, Delaware made only two of its first 15 shots in the second, allowing VCU to open a 59-44 lead with less then 10 minutes to go.
Delaware could get no closer than 10 points of the lead.
With the victory the Rams averted their first three-game CAA losing streak since the 2000-01 season. Delaware has now lost 14th consecutive conference road games.
The Blue Hens have never won at VCU.
Junior Brandon Rozzell led the way for the Rams with 19 points on 7-of-13 shooting, including 3-of-4 from beyond the arc. He also added three steals and three assists in the contest.
With the absence of Sanders in the middle junior Jamie Skeen and sophomore Bradford Burgess stepped up and posted double-doubles. Burgess finished with 12 points and 10 rebounds, while Skeen added season-highs of 11 points and 10 boards.
Juwan Carter led all scorers with 22 points on 7-of-14 shooting, while also handing out four assists. Alphonso Dawson and Jamelle Hagins each had nine points for Delaware.
The Rams improved to 10-4 overall and 2-3 in the CAA while Delaware drops to 5-11 overall and 1-4 in conference play.
The Rams return to action on Tuesday, when they travel to New York to take on the Pride of Hofstra University. The game will be televised on ESPNU at 7 p.m.
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