No. 16 Saint Louis 62, No. 22 VCU 56: Kwamain Mitchell scored 19 points and Dwayne Evans added 16 as the top-seeded Billikens held off a late charge to win their first Atlantic 10 tournament title.
Cody Ellis scored all nine of his points in the final 10:32 for Saint Louis (27-6), which added the tournament title to its outright regular-season crown to make a case for a higher seed in the NCAA Tournament.
Treveon Graham racked up 20 points and 12 rebounds and Juvonte Reddic added 15 points and eight boards for second-seeded Virginia Commonwealth (26-8), which went 3-for-18 from 3-point range and shot 33.9 percent overall.
Evans made a pair of free throws to put the Billikens ahead 45-32 with 11:45 left, but that's when the Rams turned up the defensive intensity and began to wreak havoc. VCU forced turnovers on four of five possessions during a 13-1 run while holding Saint Louis without a field goal for nearly four minutes.
Ellis snapped the drought with a 3-pointer from the right wing and nailed another 3 from the right corner to make it 57-51 with 2:18 left and help Saint Louis hang on.
GAME NOTEBOOK: Saint Louis has won 15 of its last 16, with the only loss coming in overtime at Xavier. … The Rams led only once - at 2-0. The Billikens answered with an 11-0 run and never trailed again. … Graham, VCU's leading scorer, shot 6-for-17 a day after going 1-for-12 for three points in a semifinal win over Massachusetts.
VCU | Saint Louis | |
Treveon Graham 20 | Scoring | Kwamain Mitchell 19 |
Darius Theus 2 | Assists | Mike McCall Jr. 4 |
Treveon Graham 12 | Rebounds | Dwayne Evans 8 |
Treveon Graham 6 | Free Throws Made | Dwayne Evans 8 |
Rob Brandenberg 2 | Steals | Kwamain Mitchell 3 |
Jarred Guest 1 | Blocks | Grandy Glaze 1 |
Team | Points | FG% | 3PM-3PA | FTM-FTA | Assists | Rebounds | Blocks | Steals | Turnovers |
VCU | 56 | 33.9 | 3-18 | 15-21 | 5 | 32 | 2 | 8 | 13 |
Saint Louis | 62 | 45.0 | 5-14 | 21-33 | 13 | 30 | 2 | 8 | 18 |