After finishing the first half behind by nine points, 29-20 — and it could have been worse — VCU stormed back in the second stanza to score 45 points on Richmond’s stingy zone/match-up defense. On Saturday night, before 7,567 at the Siegel Center, the Rams defeated the Spiders: VCU 65, Richmond 57.

VCU’s senior small forward T.J. Gwynn saved his career game for the match-up with crosstown rival Richmond. He scored 20 points, grabbed seven boards and dished for a couple of assists.

“His energy is constant,” junior forward/center Larry Sanders said of his teammate, Gwynn, who led all scorers. Sanders scored 12 points, pulled down 13 rebounds and blocked five shots.

VCU has won the last six games in this rivalry; the Downtown Rams now hold a 40-24 advantage on the West End Spiders in the overall series.

Senior guard David Gonzalvez scored 19 points for the Spiders; junior point guard Kevin Anderson scored 18 and played all 40 minutes.

After trailing for most of the second half VCU was behind by three points when junior guard Brandon Rozzell hit a trey with 3:26 to knot the score at 55 apiece. Another Rozzell three-pointer at the :50 mark put the Rams up by five and cooked Richmond’s goose. Rozzell scored nine points in his first start of the season.

In his first game of this season, due to a hand injury, sophomore forward Terrance Saintil had an immediate positive impact. In 10 minutes of play he scored seven points and made several key plays.

Richmond slowed the game down, whenever it could, to keep VCU from playing at its usual fast tempo. The Rams scored zero points on fast breaks. But VCU’s bench outscored Richmond’s 13-2. The Rams bench logged 57 minutes of play, while the Spiders subs only had 29 minutes on the floor. At the end of the game VCU simply had more energy.

“It was a tale of two halves,” said VCU head coach Shaka Smart. “They [his players] are a resilient group of guys. They won’t back down.”

Click here to see the box score.

The Rams next assignment is in New Orleans, when VCU (6-2, 0-1 in CAA) will take on Tulane (3-5, 0-0 in C-USA) on Sat., Dec. 19. Richmond (7-2, 0-0 in A-10) will play next on Wed., Dec. 16 at South Carolina (6-2, 0-0 in SEC).

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