PELLOT-ROSA SCORES CAREER-HIGH 20 AS RAMS TOP PIRATES 74-51
11-25-06
boxscore

RICHMOND, Va. – Virginia Commonwealth University, led by senior guard Jesse Pellot-Rosa’s (Richmond, Va./George Wythe) career-high 20 points, beat Hampton University, 74-51, Saturday night in the Rams’ home opener at the Alltel Pavilion at the Stuart C. Siegel Center.

The Rams (3-2), who were held scoreless through the first 4:15 of the contest, went on a 10-0 run over the next two minutes to take an early 10-4 advantage.  Hampton (1-5) would fight back and pull within two points at 22-20 with 8:01 remaining but VCU would use a 16-6 run to close the half, leading 38-26 at intermission.

VCU started the second half on a 17-5 run as the Rams pushed their lead to 24 points at 55-31 with 13:30 remaining.  After Hampton forward Theo Smalling’s (Tampa, Fla./Bloomingdale) jumper at the 18:25 mark, the Rams defense, which forced a season-high 30 turnovers, held the Pirates without a field goal for the next 13 minutes before forward Michael Freeman’s (Alexandria, Va./ Brewster Academy) put-back ended the drought with 5:29 to go.

"I'm very pleased with the energy we came out with on the defensive end," said VCU head coach Anthony Grant. "We limited the opportunities for them. Coming in, they were averaging 28 three-point attempts per game. The key with the press was not to give up 3's. We put together two good halves. We have to improve offensively. We did a good job in maintaining our focus for the full game."

Sophomore guard Eric Maynor (Fayetteville, N.C./Westover) finished with a season-high 17 points for the Rams while senior guard B.A. Walker (Onancock, Va./Nandua) and junior forward Wil Fameni (Duoala, Cameroon/Ameila Academy) added 14 points and 12 points, respectively.

In addition to Pellot-Rosa’s career-high point total, he also finished a career-best 9 for 9 at the free throw line.

Freeman led the Pirates with 19 points, seven rebounds and two steals.

VCU, under the direction of first-year head coach Anthony Grant, will play at Elon University on Tuesday, November 28, before hosting the University of Houston on Saturday, December 2.