RICHMOND, VA -- The Virginia Commonwealth men’s basketball team held Delaware to its lowest point total in nearly 25 years and used a big first-half run as the Rams defeated the Blue Hens, 60-39, in a Colonial Athletic Association showdown Wednesday night at the Siegel Center.

Jamal Shuler scored a game-high 21 points and hit five three-pointers for VCU, which won its fourth straight game and ninth in its last 10 to improve to 12-4 overall and 5-1 in the league. The Blue Hens, who had their four-game winning streak snapped while falling to 8-8 overall, dropped into a first place tie with the Rams with an identical 5-1 conference mark.

Delaware senior Herb Courtney (at right) led Delaware with 11 points and nine rebounds, while Marc Egerson also scored 11 points. However no other Blue Hen scored more than six points as Delaware was held to its lowest point total since also scoring 39 points in a 46-39 setback to Rider on February 19, 1983.

CAA Preseason Player of the Year Eric Maynor had nine points, six rebounds and six assists for the Rams, who won their ninth straight game against Delaware and improved to 6-0 against the Blue Hens in Richmond. Michael Anderson recorded eight points for VCU, while Larry Sanders added eight points, nine rebounds and five blocked shots.

Delaware jumped out to an early 6-2 lead in the first three minutes of the game, but the Blue Hens would be held without a field goal over the next 13 and a half minutes as the Rams took control. VCU scored 15 of the next 16 points to go up 17-7, and after two free throws by Courtney at the 7:56 mark, the Rams answered with eight consecutive points, all by Shuler, to go up 25-9 with 4:48 remaining in the half.

A Jim Ledsome dunk with 3:28 to play ended Delaware’s field goal drought and cut the VCU lead to 25-12, but a three-pointer by Maynor with three seconds remaining gave the Rams a 34-17 advantage heading to the locker room. The Blue Hens’ 17 points were the fewest Delaware had scored in a half this season.

Consecutive baskets by Egerson and Alphonso Dawson to open the second half made it a 13-point game and forced a VCU timeout, but the Rams responded with six consecutive points and did not lead by less than 15 the rest of the way. The Rams took their largest advantage of the night at 56-30 with 4:02 remining before the Hens scored nine of the last 13 points. A desperation three-pointer by Egerson banked in with two seconds remaining to prevent the Blue Hens, who went 1 of 15 from behind the arc, from snapping their streak of consecutive games with a three-pointer at 515.

Delaware shot a season-low 27.1 percent (13 of 48) against VCU, which entered the game leading the CAA in scoring defense, scoring margin, field goal percentage defense and three-point field goal percentage defense. The Rams also used a full court press for the majority of the game to force 21 Blue Hen turnovers.

“Whenever you don’t play well against a good team, you’re going to struggle,” said Blue Hen second-year head coach Monté Ross. “We weren’t good enough, so we will go back to the drawing board and get better. We got VCU’s best shot tonight, and we weren’t able to overcome it.”

Delaware remains on the road on Saturday when the Blue Hens travel to Northeastern for a 5 p.m. game with the Huskies.

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