Led by junior point guard Joey Rodriguez’s 21 points and seven assists the VCU Rams defeated the Georgia St. Panthers in Atlanta: VCU 82, Georgia St. 69.

Junior power forward Jamie Skeen added 16 points, three assists and four boards to the Rams stat sheet. Sophomore small forward Bradford Burgess scored 14 points; he connected on four of five three-point attempts. Rodriguez, Skeen and Burgess combined to hit on 21 of their 28 attempts from the field.

Afterward VCU head coach Shaka Smart said on the radio that junior forward/center Larry Sanders hurt his right foot in the game and was bothered by it. No word yet on how serious the injury might be.

What follows is from VCU’s Scott Day, reporting from Atlanta.

VCU (12-4, 4-3 CAA) shot 60.8% from the field and 38.1% from beyond the arc, while locking down on defense in the second half, holding the Panthers to just 37.5% over the final 20 minutes of play.

“I’m really proud of the resolve our guys have been showing lately,” Head Coach Shaka Smart said. “That’s been our key word lately and it’s exactly what we’ve had over these last three games. Defensively, our press wasn’t getting it done tonight so we switched to the zone and it really worked out for us.”

Leading the way was junior Joey Rodriguez with 21 points on 8-of-12 shooting, along with seven assists and three rebounds. Classmate Jamie Skeen had his highest scoring game with the Rams, adding 16 points, while sophomore Bradford Burgess knocked down big shot after big shot to the tune of 14 points.

“It’s been great to see so many guys step in, not only night after night, but possession after possession,” Smart said. “Joey was outstanding all night and Jamie and Bradford each made big plays throughout the game.”

The first half was as back-and-forth as an Olympic table tennis match with six ties and five lead changes. Both teams shot over 50% from the field, with VCU shooting a blistering 69.0% (20-of-29).

With neither team leading by more than three over the first eight minutes, Trae Goldston knocked down a three from the corner to give the Panthers their largest lead of the half at four, 32-28.

A three-pointer by sophomore Bradford Burgess ignited a 15-4 run and sent the Black & Gold into the intermission with a 46-38 advantage.

Coming out of the break, the Rams pushed the lead to as many as 12 on a Skeen put-back with 16:45 to play.

That’s when the Panthers made a 16-5 run behind several empathic dunks and seven points from Goldston to get within one at 59-58 with 9:49 remaining.

One point would be as close as Georgia State got the rest of the night as the Black & Gold locked in defensively to hold the Panthers to just four field goals the rest of the way, while pushing the advantage to as many as 13. Clutch free-throw shooting from senior T.J. Gwynn and Rodriguez kept the lead in double-digits as the duo went 8-for-8 over the final minute.

Junior Larry Sanders was a force on the boards with 11 on the evening, along with eight points on 4-of-5 shooting.

Goldston led Georgia State with 19 points, while Trey Hampton and James Vincent tallied 13 and 10 respectively.

The Rams will return to the Verizon Wireless Arena at the Stuart C. Siegel Center for a pivotal CAA match-up against the first-place Tribe of William & Mary in a 7:30 p.m. contest on Wednesday evening.

Click here to see the box score.