RICHMOND, Va. -- Marcus Santos-Silva scored 16 points on 8-of-9 shooting, Marcus Evans added 13 points with five rebounds and VCU held off Hampton 69-57 on Friday night.

Trailing 35-19 at halftime, Hampton rallied and closed to within 57-50 on Kalin Fisher's free throws with 4:06 remaining but got no closer. Evans hit a 3 and Santos-Silva made a dunk and three layups down the stretch as the Rams (2-0) dominated in the paint, outscoring the Pirates 36-16.

Malik Crowfield's free throws put the Rams up 6-4 and they led by as many as 20 points en route to their halftime lead.

Evans hit two of the Rams' five 3-pointers and VCU outshot the Pirates (1-1) 43 percent to 29 percent from the field.

Jermaine Marrow scored 25 points and Greg Heckstall grabbed 12 rebounds for the Pirates, who made just 3 of 17 shots from 3-point range.