Rebecca Jozwiak | staff writer

No. 2 VCU will head back to the A10 Championship title game for the second consecutive year after soaring past No. 3 Saint Joseph’s 77-64 in Saturday afternoon’s semifinal matchup at PPG Paints Arena.

After tying Saint Joseph’s 4-4 in the first 3:30 of the game, VCU went on a thunderous run and never looked back. Prioritizing slow front-court play, the Rams outscored the Hawks 24-3, collecting five turnovers over a seven-minute streak.

The Hawks remained scoreless for nearly seven minutes in the first-half. Though it had an opportunity to break the scoreless streaks after VCU’s Ahmad Nowell fouled Khaafiq Myers, he failed to convert either free-throw shot into point support. The Hawks finally snapped the seven-minute drought thanks to a 3-point shot from Austin Williford.

The Rams went into halftime with a 23-point advantage over the Hawks, 44-21. Saint Joseph’s lowest scoring first-half performance came against its loss against Virginia Tech, where it scored 27 points in the first period. Combining a 9-for-34 stat at the 2-point line in addition to a 2-for-12 3-point accuracy, the Hawks had plenty of work cut out for themselves going into the second half.

“We knew we could get [Saint Joseph’s] moving around,” VCU Head Coach Phil Martelli Jr. said. “Again, it was just get in there and play off two feet. Every time we played off two feet, something good happened.”

The second half saw the VCU offense continue to keep Saint Joseph’s moving — A10 Rookie of the Year Nyk Lewis added to VCU’s tally after pump-faking a Hawks defender into a successful left-sided jumper, giving it a 22-point advantage over the Hawks, 46-24. 

Saint Joseph’s offense showed signs of life in the back half of the game, making over half of its 2-point shot attempts while going 8-for-16 from the 3-point line. 

Although Saint Joseph’s outscored the Rams 33-23 in the second half, VCU’s first half performance prevented any comeback for the Hawks.

“Even tonight, I look at it, 19 assists and nine turnovers on 26 baskets,” Saint Joseph’s Head Coach Steve Donahue said. “They played the right way. They did the right things. The ball didn’t go in for that 12-minute stretch. But everything else. But everything else they did, they’ve been doing all year.”

No. 2 VCU will square off against No. 4 Dayton in the A10 Championship game after the Flyers’ thrilling upset of No. 1 Saint Louis. Tip-off is slated for 1 p.m. Sunday.

Rebecca Jozwiak can be reached at jozwiakr@duq.edu