Bonnies' hot shooting dooms Rams

Final Score: St. Bonaventure 89, VCU 78.

Location: Siegel Center.
Current records: St. Bonaventure 10-3 (1-0 in A-10). VCU 8-6 (0-1 in A-10). 

In a nutshell: For many VCU fans, watching a visiting team score at will on the Rams home court, was a bad surprise. For years VCU has been known for its stingy defense. However, there was little evidence of that tradition in this game. Why? Well, one reason could be that six of the 10 players Ryan Odom put in the game weren't on last season's team. Odom is the new VCU head coach. 

Maybe it's too soon to tell, but 14 games into the new season, it seems Odom is putting more emphasis on offense -- instead of defense -- than did his predecessor, Mike Rhoades, at VCU. In Rhoades' six years on the Rams bench, when VCU scored 78 points it usually won.    

Thus, in what was the Atlantic 10 Conference opener for both programs, while VCU's offense was fairly productive -- sinking 50 percent of its shots from the field -- the Rams were unable to stop, or match, the hot 3-point shooting of the visitors.  

NOTES (Information provided by Chris Kowalczyk, VCU Assistant A.D.)

• VCU was led offensively by sophomore forward Christian Fermin who contributed a career-high 15 points. That, along with nine rebounds and three blocked shots.
• Graduate forward Kuany Kuany added 13 points for the Rams. half. Kunay was 3-of-3 from 3-point range and 4-of-5 from the floor.
• VCU graduate guard Sean Bairstow scored 11 points and handed out a team-high six assists. Zeb Jackson was the fourth Ram in double figures, with 11 points and five assists.
• St. Bonaventure was led by Chad Venning who had a game-high 19 points and 11 rebounds. The Bonnies knocked down 6-of-11 treys in each half.
• The Bonnies held a 15-6 edge in second chance points, grabbing 10 offensive boards to VCU’s six. 
• Despite trailing by as many as 19 points, the Rams cut the deficit to nine points with 6:16 left in the contest. However, the Bonnies answered with an 8-2 run to extend their lead to 79-64 and stiff-arm the home team's rally. 

BOX SCORE

NEXT UP

VCU will host A-10 rival George Washington on Saturday, Jan. 6. Tipoff at 4 p.m. TV on the USA network. Radio on WRNL 910 AM. 

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