No. 25 Virginia Commonwealth 71, Richmond 53: Briante Weber scored 16 of his 18 points in the first half as the Rams advanced to the semifinals of the Atlantic 10 tournament in Brooklyn, N.Y.

Treveon Graham added 14 points and six rebounds for second-seeded VCU (25-7), which will play third-seeded George Washington on Saturday. Melvin Johnson contributed 13 points while Mo Alie-Cox led the reserves with seven points and 10 rebounds for the Rams.

ShawnDre’ Jones scored 18 points off the bench to lead Richmond (19-14). Terry Allen contributed 16 points for the Spiders, but Kendall Anthony – who entered Friday averaging 16.2 points with three straight games of at least 20 – was held to seven points on 2-for-15 shooting.

Weber made three straight baskets as VCU surged to a 6-0 lead and scored five consecutive points later in the first half to give the Rams their first double-figure advantage with just over 10 minutes left before the break. The deficit remained near 10 until Graham scored five points in a 10-0 run to push the lead to 33-15 with 3 1/2 minutes left in the opening half.

The lead was 16 at intermission and the Spiders threatened to get back into the game by scoring six of the first eight points coming out of the break, but Rob Brandenberg buried a triple about 4 1/2 minutes later to put the Rams back up by 20. VCU, which averaged a nation-leading 11.5 steals during the regular season, finished with seven and also outrebounded Richmond 50-28.

GAME NOTEBOOK: VCU F Juvonte Reddic – the team’s second-leading scorer (12.5) and top rebounder (8.5) – finished with four points on 1-for-6 shooting and seven rebounds. … The winner of Saturday’s semifinal won’t have to deal with top-seeded Saint Louis in Sunday's championship game, as the Billikens were upset earlier in the day by No. 9 seed St. Bonaventure. … The Rams improved to 51-26 in conference tournament history.