NEW YORK (AP) David Shriver, Jamir Watkins and Adrian Baldwin Jr. scored 11 points apiece to help lead top-seeded VCU over No. 8 overall Davidson on Thursday in a 71-53 victory in the Atlantic 10 Conference Championship quarterfinals.

Victory in hand, the Rams advance to the program's seventh semifinals at the A-10 Championship, and will face the winner between fourth-seeded Saint Louis and No. 5 George Mason.

"We've had some really good practices and just really locked in," VCU head coach Mike Rhoades said. "We used last year as an example: This first game is the most important one because it's the only one we can control. So let's be ready for it. Let's impact the game. Let's impact the winning by doing the right thing and have the right approach. But I just thought our defense, just not giving them open threes early to get themselves going, I think that was a huge key to the game. And then offensively, we had 18 assists on 27 baskets. The ball is hot, guys are moving the ball, we're playing the right way. That's important."

Watkins added six rebounds and three blocks for the Rams (25-7). Shriver was 3-for-6 from beyond the arc. VCU also picked up its sixth straight victory.

Grant Huffman had 10 points and five assists for the Wildcats (16-16). David Skogman also scored 10 points for Davidson. Sam Mennenga had nine points and eight rebounds.

VCU took the lead with 13:23 left in the first half and did not relinquish it. Baldwin led his team in scoring with eight points in the first half to help put them up 37-28 at the break. VCU extended its lead to 54-39 during the second half, fueled by a 7-0 scoring run.

"[Baldwin] earned his [postseason] awards this year," Loyer said. "They have the chance to go pretty deep in this tournament. So it's fun when you're matching up with a team that you know you're going to have to bring your best A game."

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The Associated Press created this story using technology provided by Data Skrive and data from Sportradar.