RICHMOND, Va. – Second-seeded VCU emerged victorious, 64-52, Saturday night over fourth-seeded Davidson in an Atlantic 10 Championship semifinal at the Siegel Center, earning its sixth A-10 Championship finals appearance in the last eight championships.

Now VCU, which was picked ninth in the Atlantic 10 preseason poll, will have an opportunity to earn its second-ever A-10 title next Sunday against St. Bonaventure at the University of Dayton Arena.

“I am really proud of our guys with their approach from last night, moving on to facing a talented well-coached Davidson team that beat us a week ago,” VCU coach Mike Rhoades said. “I’m proud of our fight and we stuck to the game plan for the most part. We guarded at a high level in March and that’s what you have to do.”

Hyland led VCU with 12 points. Corey Douglas and Jamir Watkins each added 10 points. VCU’s bench had 25 points on the evening and won the rebounding battle by a 39-34 mark. VCU also won the battle in the paint 34-16.

“Definitely interior defense was a focus,” VCU's Corey Douglas said. “In shootaround we discussed it, we went over it in film. Right before the game (assistant) coach (Brent) Scott pulled bigs together and said, 'We’ve got to fight tonight and stop as many points as possible.'"

Davidson saw Kellan Grady and Hyunjung Lee each net 13 points. Luka Brajkovic contributed 10 points and nine rebounds. The Wildcats had 14 assists on 17 made baskets and scored 22 points off 14 VCU turnovers.

“Congratulations to VCU, they played a magnificent game defensively they disrupted our rhythm quite well,” Davidson coach Bob McKillop said. “I thought our guys fought from start to finish and they emptied their tanks and gave everything they had.”

While both teams had trouble scoring the basketball in the first half, it was a 5:55 scoreless streak for Davidson and a 7:05 string without a made basket that took Davidson out of its offensive rhythm, this a day after tying the mark for most 3-point baskets made by a team in a single Atlantic 10 Championship contest.
In the first 20 minutes, it shot 16.7 percent from the field.

Davidson’s defense kept it in the game, but started to show cracks in the final 32 seconds of the first half when VCU converted the final four points, including a layup from Adrian “Ace” Baldwin, Jr. with two seconds remaining.

“It seemed like we couldn’t throw it in the ocean for most of the night,” Davidson guard Kellan Grady said. “The turning point was when that started affecting our defense. We weren’t buckling down and getting stops like we typically do. We didn’t get the pivotal stops we needed.”

VCU was facing its own share of scoring challenges shooting 31 percent, but the team remained upbeat when talking things over at halftime.

“In the first half, I felt like we had a lot of good takes, we just didn’t finish well,” said Douglas. “Coach said to stay at it, keep attacking, keep being aggressive and be us and eventually those shots would fall. Defensively we just stuck to what the game plan was and continued to deny, disrupt and rebound.”

The 24-17 halftime score marked season lows for first-half points from both teams.
VCU took its energy from the end of the first half and combined it with the halftime positivity shooting 65.4 percent from the field.

Douglas was able to make multiple dunks and VCU began stringing successful plays together on both sides of the court.Late the second half, just after the WIldcats had cut the score to single digits, Hason Ward turned to face the basket and fired a deep two-point attempt with two second left on the shot clock. Ward's attempt found its target, and VCU took an 11-point advantage over Davidson.

“It was definitely huge honestly,” VCU sophomore guard Nah'Shon "Bones" Hyland said. “With Has, you just never know what phenomenal thing he’s going to do out there. It’s just that any moment he’ll do something crazy that’s going to shock people. His ceiling is very high. We celebrate his success like he celebrates our success. That was definitely a big momentum play.”

Davidson attempted to get back into the game but following Ward’s make, but VCU held on and led by double digits for the rest of the contest.

“You never count out young people that have the same purpose,” Rhodes said. “They play with caring about each other. That nine in front of us was just a number, that was not who we were or who we are. We used it as motivation, because you can, coaches look for that all the time, but I didn’t think that of this group. I thought we’d have more rollercoasters just because we’re young but we just kept getting better. Our defense showed up every day and that gave us a chance.”

VCU advances to face top-seeded St. Bonaventure, in Dayton next Sunday. The two teams split their regular season contests with each winning on its respective home court. This will mark the first time the top two seeds will meet in the Atlantic 10 Championship since 2013 when top-seeded Saint Louis and second-seeded VCU met.