NEW YORK -Jamie Skeen had 23 points and nine rebounds and Virginia Commonwealth held off a late rally by UCLA for an 89-85 victory on Friday in the third-place game of the NIT Season Tip-Off.
The Rams (4-1) led 69-58 with 7:08 to play on a layup by Rob Brandenburg. Tyler Honeycutt had seven points in a 12-4 run by UCLA (3-2) that got the Bruins within 73-70 with 4:11 left.
UCLA got within one point twice, the second time at 80-79 on a 3-pointer by Malcolm Lee with 1:48 to go. Skeen scored off a scramble in the lane and Brandon Rozzell followed a UCLA turnover with a breakaway dunk to give the Rams an 84-79 lead with 1:03 left.
Lazeric Jones scored on a drive with 14.3 seconds left to get the Bruins within 87-85. Joey Rodriguez went 1 for 2 from the line with 13.4 seconds to go to give VCU a three-point lead. UCLA came down with a chance to tie but Reeves Nelson's 3-point attempt with 5 seconds left was well off the mark and Bradford Burgess of VCU made one of two free throws with 2.7 seconds left.
Burgess, who was 3 for 3 from 3-point range, had 15 points for the Rams and Rodriguez added 14, all but two on six 3-point attempts.
Lee was 5 for 7 from 3-point range and had 23 points for the Bruins, while Nelson had 20 points and 10 rebounds and Honeycutt had 18 points and 13 rebounds.
Virginia Commonwealth, which lost 77-72 to No. 24 Tennessee in the semifinals, finished 10 of 22 from 3-point range.
UCLA outrebounded the Rams 24-12 in the second half for a 43-28 overall edge on the boards, but the Bruins committed 21 turnovers and VCU turned them into 24 points.
UCLA, which never led against VCU, lost 82-70 to No. 7 Villanova in the semifinals.
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