Tillman, Williams lead VCU over Bucknell 85-79

Dec 17, 2017, 01:36 am

RICHMOND, Va. -- Justin Tillman scored 26 on 9-of-16 shooting and Jonathan Williams added 17 points and six assists to spark VCU to an 85-79 victory over Bucknell on Saturday.

Malik Crowfield came off the bench to hit three 3-pointers and score 12 for the Rams (6-5), who were playing the Bison (4-7) for the first time.

Nana Foulland, who had a double-double by halftime, matched his career high with 23 points (done four times) on 9-of-10 shooting from the floor and also grabbed a career-best 14 rebounds for Bucknell, which was coming off an 11-day break for finals. Zach Thomas added 16 points, but had six turnovers for the Bison, while Jimmy Sotos and Nate Jones scored 13 and 10, respectively.

Williams scored the last eight points of the first half for VCU and the Rams led 46-36 at intermission. Nate Jones scored eight points in a 12-4 run to open the second half and the Bison pulled within 50-48. Stephen Brown, who came into the game averaging 13 points, hit his only bucket of the game to give Bucknell a 64-61 lead midway through the second half. But Tillman hit a jumper, Marcus Santos-Silva added a bucket and a 3-point play and Mike'l Simms sank a 3 in a 10-0 run that decided the game.