St Louis is a long haul from Richmond, Va., but the Virginia Commonwealth Rams and St Louis Billikens share an A-10 affiliation: this late-February battle was for first place in the conference...the Rams held the half-game lead over the Billikens.
St. Louis has outscored their opponents in 2012-13 by about ten points while VCU who has the number 14 scoring offense in the country outscores its opponents by about fifteen points/game. This game in St. Louis was for first place but Butler and LaSalle are right behind St Louis...this was for first place, temporarily, and then the conference tournament settles it again. Each team has just a handful of A-10 games left to play after tonight's game.
Virginia Commonwealth University v. St Louis University...February 19, 2013, 9 P.M. EST
This was as big a challenge as VCU would have in the 2012-13 season: St Louis University beat Butler several weeks ago in St Louis by 17 points...tonight they beat VCU by 14 , 76-62, and they never trailed in the game and led by as many as 26 points in the second half. The first half blitz was something VCU hadn't experienced this season: they were stifled by the Billikens' defense that had only given up 57 points/game this year. The 17-point half time deficit was the worst first half effort of the season for Shaka Smart's Rams. The stats are interesting to look at: VCU took more shots than did St Louis, but the real stat is that St Louis made its foul shots which were much more numerous than the Rams numbers at the line.
After the win St Louis University goes to 20-5 and 9-2 in the A-10 conference while VCU is now 21-6 and 9-3 in the Atlantic 10. VCU plays Xavier on February 23, 2013 on the road. The win gives St Louis the lead in the A-10 by half a game over both VCU and Butler who are each 9-3...St Louis is 9-2 in conference play.
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