WASHINGTON, D.C. — The Virginia Commonwealth band, known as The Peppas, played an audio clip from “The Purge” in the second half of VCU’s game against St. Bonaventure on Friday. “The Purge” is a horror movie franchise about the United States doing away with all laws for a 12-hour period once a year.

“This is not a test,” the clip begins. “This is your emergency broadcast system announcing the commencement of the annual purge sanctioned by the U.S. government.”

The soundbite leads into a musical number by one of the best bands in the Atlantic 10 Conference. I assume the band and the school do not endorse murder, which the movie celebrates, but their men’s basketball team is a killer in the A-10 tournament.

No. 1 seed VCU beat No. 8 St. Bonaventure 76-59 in the first quarterfinal Friday at Capital One Arena. VCU led for the last 34 minutes. The Bonnies got no closer than five points in the second half.

“It was a great basketball game all around for us,” VCU coach Ryan Odom said. “We knew it was going to be extremely difficult no matter who we played, whether it was St. Bonaventure or Duquesne.”

VCU improved to 23-9 in the A-10 tournament. That’s the best record by far by any team since the 2012-13 season.

The Rams (26-6) will play at 1 p.m. Saturday in the semifinal round, where they were 8-0 in their first 12 A-10 seasons.

VCU bounced back from a 79-76 loss to Dayton at the Siegel Center in Richmond, Va., one week earlier. The Rams will play No. 4 seed Loyola Chicago or No. 5 Saint Louis in the semifinals.

VCU did not shoot the 3-pointer well (9 of 32, 28.1%) but shot better than St. Bonaventure (4 of 19, 21.1%). Max Shulga, the A-10 Player of the Year, missed all seven of his 3-point attempts after making 1 of 9 against Dayton.

Brandon Jennings made 3 of 3 3s for VCU, and Jack Clark made 3 of 8.

4:35 p.m.

I took a break from basketball to walk one block over to the National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial. My great grandpa Edwards F. Smith’s name is carved into the stone there along with thousands of others. He was killed in the line of duty in Chicago in 1931.

I’ve visited the memorial before but not for a number of years. It’s good to honor his memory, which my grandma Eileen kept alive throughout her life even though she was only 3 when he died.

I also took time to visit the National Building Museum. It, too, is one block away from Capital One Arena. There are exhibitions on Frank Lloyd Wright, brutalist architecture, etc. It’s worth a visit for Dayton fans in D.C. this weekend because it’s so close to the arena, though it costs $10 unlike the free Smithsonian museums. And if your favorite team throws up too many bricks tonight, you can visit the Building Museum to learn about a different type of brick.

No. 5 seed Saint Louis hit a brick wall in the second quarterfinal game Friday, losing 72-64 to No. 4 Loyola Chicago.

Sixth-year Saint Louis guard Gibson Jimerson, the hottest shooter in the conference entering the tournament, missed all five of his 3-point attempts. He played in 93 A-10 games in his career. This was one of 11 in which he didn’t make a 3. He scored 1,389 points in A-10 games in his career.

Desmond Watson led Loyola with 25 points on 7-of-14 shooting.

Loyola will play No. 1 seed VCU in the first semifinal at 1 p.m. Saturday. VCU won 84-65 at Loyola on Jan. 4 and is 3-0 against Loyola since it joined the A-10 in the 2022-23 season.

Credit: David Jablonski

Credit: David Jablonski