Tillman's 23 & 14 lead VCU past Fordham 76-63 (Dec 30, 2017)

RICHMOND, Va. (AP) Justin Tillman had 23 points and 14 rebounds and VCU turned back Fordham 76-63 on Saturday in an Atlantic 10 opener.

VCU (9-5) made 7 of 12 3-pointers and shot 67 percent overall (18 of 27) to take a 48-28 lead at the half. A 24-7 run to close the first half broke the game open.

De'Riante Jenkins and Mike'l Simms had back-to-back 3-pointers in a 10-0 spurt and after five points by Forham, VCU scored 14 straight. Malik Crowfield had two 3-pointers and Jenkins a 3 quickly followed his steal and dunk. VCU made 10 of 13 shots, five of them 3-pointers, in the last 10 minutes.

It was a different story in the second half as Fordham (5-8) used an 11-0 run to get within nine and kept hitting shots to keep the pressure on. Fordham shot 50 percent in the second half and VCU only 34.5.

Will Tavares had 18 of his 20 points after the break for Fordham, which only got three points from reserves.