Adrian Baldwin Jr. scored 28 points to lead VCU past visiting Vanderbilt, 70-65, in Richmond, Va., on Wednesday night.
Baldwin hit 7 of 14 shots and went 10-for-12 from the foul line while hauling in three rebounds and dishing out four assists. VCU (5-2) also got 13 points from forward Jamir Watkins.
VCU made 19 of its 44 shots (43.2 percent) from the floor, including 7 of 18 shots from deep (38.9 percent).
Vanderbilt (3-4) was led by forward Myles Stute’s 20 points, along with 14 from Liam Robbins and 12 from Ezra Manjon.
The Commodores shot 42.9 percent (21 of 49) from the field, and held a narrow 31-29 advantage on the glass.
But Stute hit his sixth 3-pointer of the night with 10:19 remaining to pull the Commodores within a point, and Vanderbilt took the lead for the first time in the second half on a pair of free throws from Robbins with 9:21 left.
A Baldwin trey just 22 seconds later put the Rams back up and started a 6-0 run that ended on a Toibu Lawal dunk at 8:37.
But on the same play, Robbins was whistled for a Class A technical, and Vanderbilt coach Jerry Stackhouse erupted during the ensuing timeout over the call. Stackhouse was issued two technical fouls and ejected from the game.
That led to six Baldwin free throws, and he made four. Nick Kern then converted a pair of free throws to extend the lead to nine.
Vanderbilt rallied to tie, but Baldwin again answered with free throws with 3:14 left, and VCU led for the rest of the game.
It was a slow-paced, grind-it-out first half for both teams. Vanderbilt had more turnovers (13) than field goals (10) in the first half as the Rams held a 35-28 lead at the break behind Baldwin’s 13 points.
