NEW YORK (AP) Jayden Nunn scored 18 points to pace top-seeded VCU in a 90-78 win over No. 4 overall Saint Louis on Saturday in the Atlantic 10 Conference Championship semifinals.
Victory in hand, the Rams remain perfect in the A-10 semis – now up to a 7-0 mark since joining the league in 2012 – and will match up against the winner between No. 2 Dayton and third-seeded Fordham in the Atlantic 10 Championship final on Sunday, first tip set for 1 p.m. with national broadcast via CBS.
"It's not who had the hot hand at the moment, it's about making the right play," VCU head coach Mike Rhoades said. "And I just thought guys did a really good job making the right play. And what happens is everybody is sharing it, everybody is finding ways on the end to score it. That's what I thought happened today. I thought guys had a good shot. They gave it up to get a great shot. I thought guys drove to the basket and they could have went and scored or went against contact, but they kicked it out. And then the next guy drove and he made a decision. Five guys got in double figures because everybody on the team was passing the ball. I think that was key today."
Nunn added three blocks for the Rams (26-7). Brandon Johns Jr. scored 16 points and contributed nine rebounds and four steals. Jamir Watkins finished with 15 points. The Rams extended their winning streak to six games.
Javon Pickett led the Billikens (21-12) in scoring, finishing with 18 points and four steals. Javonte Perkins tacked on 13 points for Saint Louis as well. Yuri Collins posted 12 points and 10 assists.
"When they're making threes like that and defending like that, they defended at an extremely high level, they're tough to beat," Saint Louis head coach Travis Ford said. "They brought their A game. Give them credit. These guys fought hard, as I told them. I appreciate they fought to the very, very end. It just wasn't necessarily our day, and VCU had a lot to do with that."
VCU took the lead with 15:08 remaining in the first half and led the rest of the way. The score was 44-39 at halftime, with Ace Baldwin Jr. racking up 13 points. Nunn scored 15 points in the second half to help lead the way as VCU advanced to the championship game.
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The Associated Press created this story using technology provided by Data Skrive and data from Sportradar.