Bradford Burgess found an opening in the paint when he darted to the basket off an inbound play, and his lay-up with 7 seconds left propelled the 11th seeded VCU Rams to the Elite Eight with a 72-71 win over the 10th seeded Florida State Seminoles in San Antonio. FSU had a chance to win it, but just like at the end of regulation, Derwin Kitchen took too much time off the clock, and passed the ball to Chris Singleton with less than a second to go. Singleton couldn't get a shot off in time, and VCU continues their Cinderella run through the tournament.
Burgess had a monster game for the Rams tonight, and he led all scorers with 26 points in 9-15 shooting. His 6 three pointers created a match-up problem for the Seminoles all night long. Brandon Rozzell came off the bench to contribute 16 points, including scoring 11 straight points for the Rams at one point in the 2nd half. For Florida State, Derwin Kitchen led the Seminoles in scoring with 23 points, while Chris Singleton had 16 points off the bench. Michael Snaer had 12 points including 3 three pointers. Bernard James had a tremendous 8 point, 10 rebound, 5 block effort, including a couple of game saving efforts in the 2nd half and overtime.
Florida State had a monster 45-25 rebounding edge in the game, including a 20-5 advantage on the offensive glass. Unfortunately, FSU didn't take advantage of the extra possessions, and shot a paltry 36% from the field for the entire game. Turnovers seemed to take its toll in the 2nd half, as FSU turned the ball over 13 times in the 2nd half and OT. You just can't give a team like VCU who thrives on transition offense those types of chances.
VCU will play top seeded Kansas Sunday, who defeated the Richmond Spiders earlier today 77-57.
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