White Out VCU (15-5, 7-4) celebrated Homecoming Saturday night by dropped Georgia State (9-14, 3-8), 72-68, in a Colonial Athletic Association game at the Siegel Center in snowy Richmond, Va.
Junior Joey Rodriguez led the way for the Rams with 22 points, nine assists and four rebounds.
Georgia State led early, holding an 18-14 advantage with nine minutes to go in the first half before VCU scored seven straight to take a 21-18 lead.
The diehard crowd who braved the snow would see VCU take a 45-32 halftime lead into the locker room against a team that it has beaten 12 consecutive times since Georgia State joined the CAA.
The Panther defense came of the break energized holding the Rams to just nine points in the first 12 ½ minutes of the second half and forcing 15 second-half turnovers.
VCU had just two turnovers in the first half.
With a 13-point lead reduced to five with 5:30 left, Ed Nixon made a driving layup, was fouled and converted the three-point play. With Georgia State down seven with under 2 minutes remaining, Nixon again came to the rescue hitting a long 3-pointer to closeout the game for VCU.
Nixon was one of five Rams in double figures. Joey Rodriguez had 22 points, Larry Sanders 13 points and 13 rebounds, Brandon Rozzell 12 points, and freshman Darius Theus a career-high 10, all in the first half. Rodriguez, who went into the game eighth in the country with an average of 6.1 assists per game, had nine assists and three turnovers. He was 12 of 13 from the foul line as VCU hit 30 of 35 foul shots.
Sanders tallied his sixth double-double of the year and third straight
Joe Dukes led the Panthers with 17 points on 6-of-20 shooting, while grabbing six rebounds and dishing out four assists. Dukes was held to just 1-of-11 shooting in the final 20 minutes.
With the win, the Black & Gold move into fifth place in the CAA standings with seven conference games remaining. In order to claim one of the first-round byes in the CAA tournament the Rams need to be in the top four regular-season finishers.
VCU will try to continue its climb from Wednesday when they travel to the Trask Coliseum for a 7 p.m. matchup with the Seahawks of UNC Wilmington.
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