RAMS WRAP UP SAN JUAN SHOOTOUT WITH LOSS TO KENT STATE box score CAROLINA, P.R, Dec. 22. – Kent State received 18 points and 11  rebounds from reserve Mike Perry and 17 points off the bench from Demetric Shaw as the Golden Flashes defeated Virginia Commonwealth 81-75 in the third-place game of the San Juan Shootout Fridayafternoon at the Coliseo Guillermo Angulo. Kent State closed out the first half with a 9-2 run to break a 39-39  tie and gave the Golden Flashes a 48-41 halftime lead, and the  Mid-American Conference representative kept the Rams at bay through the entire second half in improving to 7-3 overall. VCU (7-5) made several runs during the second period and cut the Kent State lead to a single point on three different occasions, the last being when senior Scott Lilly (Charlotte, N.C./Independence) sank a baseline jumper with 1:58 left to play which trimmed the Flashes’ advantage to 74-73.Senior Kyrem Massey then scored with 1:34 remaining to put Kent Stateup by three, and the Golden Flashes held VCU without a field goal after Lilly’s bucket to preserve the win. Lilly finished the game six-of-seven from the field and connected on all four of , his three-point attempts to lead the Rams with a season-best 16 points. VCU also received 13 points and a career-high 12 rebounds from senior L.F. Likcholitov (St. Petersburg, Russia/St. Petersburg State Tech. Univ.) in the loss. “We let (Kent State) get a little bit of a cushion in the first half that we couldn’t recover from,” stated Rams’ head coach Mack McCarthy. “In the second half our defensive effort was really good. They’re a good team that gets the most out of every position.” Senior Bo Jones (Richmond, Va./Huguenot), VCU’s leading scorer who missed yesterday’s 94-88 loss to Southern Methodist with a strained Achilles’ tendon, returned to the lineup and added 11 points in 20 minutes of action, but the Rams’ played without another key member when sophomore Willie Taylor (Smyrna, Tenn./LaVergne) sat out the contest with an injured left foot. “We’re hurting right now, and we just couldn’t get any consistent effort from the five we had out there,” said McCarthy. VCU finished 1-2 overall in the three-day San Juan Shootout and will finish its non-conference slate with a trip to Alabama-Birmingham on December 30. The Rams open up Colonial Athletic Association play on January 3 when VCU travels to American University. “We played three really good teams,” said McCarthy of the tournament. “We’ve done a decent job of preparing (for conference play) with our non-conference games. We now need to take what we’ve learned so we can get ready for American.”