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VCU will need strong finish to secure Shaka Smart's first league title

The only hole in VCU coach Shaka Smart's otherwise sterling résumé is proving more difficult than expected for the Rams to fill.

Their bid to secure Smart's first regular season league title is in jeopardy after city rival Richmond completed a season sweep Wednesday night with a thrilling 67-63 double-overtime victory.

Preseason Atlantic 10 favorite VCU (21-7, 11-4) now finds itself in a four-way tie for first place with Dayton, Rhode Island and Davidson. The Rams do not have an easy finishing schedule either as they host the Flyers on Saturday and visit the Wildcats a week from Thursday before closing at home against last-place George Mason.

VCU's inability to maintain control of the Atlantic 10 after a 7-0 start is a product of both ill-timed injuries and a rival who seems to play the Rams tougher than anyone else.

College basketball's steals leader Briante Weber suffered a season-ending knee injury in VCU's first loss to Richmond on Jan. 31 and leading scorer Treveon Graham also missed subsequent losses to La Salle and St. Bonaventure with a sore ankle. Graham played a total of 77 minutes in the two Richmond games, however, yet the Rams were unable to defeat a Spiders team that is just 16-12 overall and not even on the fringes of the NCAA tournament picture.

The second loss to Richmond will be even more galling than the first for VCU because the Rams had to work hard to even force overtime. They trailed by eight with 90 seconds to go before launching a spirited rally aided by three missed free throws and two turnovers by the Spiders.

When Kendall Anthony bricked two foul shots with 14 seconds to play, Graham made Richmond pay by burying a deep step-back 3-pointer to tie the score at 52. ShawnDre' Jones nearly answered with a running game winner of his own, but his buzzer beater bounced around every part of the rim but would not fall.

The first overtime appeared to belong to VCU, but Smart's decision to foul up three backfired when Jones intentionally missed the second free throw and the Rams could not corral the rebound. Given new life with 2.4 seconds left, Trey Davis fed T.J. Cline for a layup to force a second overtime.

It was VCU who had to come from behind in the second overtime, but this time Richmond came up with a game-saving defensive play. As Graham drove the lane and rose over Deion Taylor to attempt a potential game-tying jumper, Terry Allen left his man to help on the Rams' leading scorer and swatted away the shot before it left Graham's hands.

Allen then sank a pair of free throws with less than a second remaining to at last seal a Richmond victory.

VCU was undone Wednesday night by an uncharacteristically poor shooting night from the perimeter. The Rams were 3 of 18 from behind the arc despite Graham's game-tying deep ball and they shot 32.8 percent from the field, which made it difficult to run their full-court press after so many misses.

In Smart's first five seasons as head coach at VCU, the Rams have won 26 or more games every year, made the NCAA tournament four times and even advanced to the school's only Final Four.

All that's missing from Smart's resume is a league championship, and now VCU will have to finish strong to get one for him.

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Jeff Eisenberg is the editor of The Dagger on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at daggerblog@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter!