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VIRGINIA COMMONWEALTH RALLIES FROM 20 POINTS DOWN TO DEFEAT LOUISVILLE IN OPENER
11-19-99
Virginia Commonwealth christened the new ALLTEL Pavilion at the Stuart C. Siegel Center in dramatic fashion, overcoming a 20-point deficit to defeat 1999 NCAA tournament participant Louisville 79-74 in front of 7,369 fans on Friday night.

“This is a critical win,” Virginia Commonwealth coach Mack McCarthy said. “We needed a win of this sort of game to make sure our team believes what we are telling them. The fans have waited so long to see this. There will be 20,000 people that say they were here tonight.”

Junior guard Bo Jones (Richmond, Va.), who sat out most of the first half with two fouls and no points, connected on 7-of-12 shots after intermission en route to 19 second-half points, including the Rams last seven points of the game.

“In the first half I was nervous and it showed,” Jones said. “At halftime, coach McCarthy told us to keep our composure and play hard. We never quit and fed off the crowd.”

After an emotional pregame introduction, the Rams got off to a slow start. The Cardinals scored the first eight points of the game and led 26-9 by the second media timeout.

Junior guard LaMar Taylor (Richmond, Va.), who produced 10 points, nine assists and seven rebounds, hit two free throws to cut the deficit to 40-29 with 3:31 remaining before intermission. But the Cardinals ended the half with a 9-2 run to lead 49-31 at the break.

The deficit was 17 points with 14:52 remaining before Virginia Commonwealth showed signs of a comeback. The Rams went on a 6-0 run – all of which came on second chance points. Senior forward Patrick Kodjoe (Solden, Germany) had an offensive tip-in and freshman center Matt Treadwell had back-to-back second-chance buckets. Kodjoe and Treadwell came off the bench to tally 17 and six points, respectively.

The Rams which were outrebounded 30-16 in the first half, reversed that in the second half, outrebounding the Cardinals 33-18.

Trailing by 13 with 11:43 left, Virginia Commonwealth went on a 19-6 run capped by junior guard Scott Lilly's (Charlotte, N.C.) jumper to tie the game at 67 with 6:19 left.

The team's traded baskets before Virginia Commonwealth took its first lead of the game score on a Jones right-side jumper with 2:51 to play. Louisville answered when Dion Edwards connected to tie the game for the fourth and final time.

Taylor found Jones open on the right side to give the Rams a 77-74 lead with 57 seconds led as the Rams held Louisville without a point during the final 2:26 of the game.

The victory improved Virginia Commonwealth's record to 4-0 against Metro Conference foes since the Rams joined the Colonial Athletic Association for the 1995-96, and allowed the Rams to avoid losing consecutive season openers for the first time in school history.

Virginia Commonwealth will be back in action next Friday when the Rams play host to Delaware State. Game time is set for 7:30 p.m.

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