VCU's pressure knocks Monarchs out of rhythm

RICHMOND

They were too aggressive. Except when they're weren't aggressive enough. They shot the ball too quickly - when they were able to get a shot.

When it came to attacking Virginia Commonwealth 's full-court press in the second half Saturday, Old Dominion was never able to find that balance between aggressiveness and recklessness, between playing fast physically and staying composed mentally.

Forced into 10 second-half turnovers and a few too many rushed shots, the Monarchs fell to their rivals 70-58 in front of 7,000-plus fans at the Siegel Center in snowy downtown Richmond.

A two-point ODU halftime lead turned into a 10-point deficit with 5:37 left. That's about where it remained in a loss that knocked the Monarchs (18-7, 10-3) out of a first-place tie in the Colonial Athletic Association and pulled VCU (17-5, 9-4) within a game of ODU with five to play.

"Road wins are gold," Monarchs coach Blaine Taylor said. "We've got a number of road wins, but you've got to do something a little more special than we did tonight to win in this setting."

Certainly ODU needed to take better care of the ball. The Monarchs knifed through the Rams' zone pressure in the first half but had a harder time with their man-to-man in the second.

"We have a number of presses, and we started in one that wasn't very effective," VCU coach Shaka Smart said.

Something was missing from VCU's early pressure - the imposing backline presence of 6-foot-10 Larry Sanders. Held out of the starting lineup for an unspecified reason, Sanders didn't enter until the 14:35 mark.

He didn't get going until the second half, when he scored 11 of his 14 points and grabbed seven of his 12 rebounds.

By then, VCU turned the game into the frantic up-and- down affair that it wanted.

The Rams had 13 steals. ODU helped with some impatient play offensively.

VCU went hard to the boards, grabbing 39 rebounds to ODU's 37. That was a mild surprise. A bigger surprise was the play of reserve Kirill Pishchalnikov, a senior from Maykop, Russia, who started in place of Sanders.

Pishchalnikov came in averaging just 2.8 points in just 9.6 minutes per game.

Given a chance to bang with ODU's large front line, however, the 265-pound senior flourished, scoring 14 points on 5-of-7 shooting.

"I didn't expect it at all," forward Frank Hassell said. "He played good and came in strong.

"We should have played more physical and strong. We usually do."

Hassell scored eight first-half points but picked up two fouls and played just six minutes. Reserve Keyon Carter also battled foul trouble.

ODU's leading scorer, Gerald Lee, took just four shots, partly the result of the Monarchs' second-half turnovers.

The Monarchs lost here for the 10th time in 11 tries. The teams meet again in the final game of the regular season, Feb. 27.

"They're coming back to our house," guard Darius James said.

"We're all looking forward to it."

Ed Miller, (757) 446-2372, ed.miller@pilotonline.com