Sports Briefs

Young bloods earn honors

Freshman guard Eric Maynor (Fayetteville, N.C.), of the men’s basketball team, was named the Colonial Athletic Association Rookie of the Week for the first time.

Maynor earned the award after averaging 12.5 points and four assists in two games last week, his first as a starter. He scored a career-high 18 points, was 6-for-8 from the floor and was perfect from the free-throw line in the Rams’ victory over William and Mary Feb. 25.

DID YOU KNOW?

A VCU men’s basketball player has had a perfect-shooting game with a minimum of 10 attempts on seven occasions. Former standout Willie Taylor accomplished the feat three times, more than any other player:

vs. UAB on Dec. 15, 2001 (13-of-13)
vs. William & Mary on Feb. 25, 2002 (11-of-11)
at George Mason on Feb. 20, 2002 (10-of-10)

Source: vcurams.vcu.edu

Jared Bolden (Lynchburg/ E.C. Glass High School), a left-handed pitcher and first baseman, earned the same distinction for his contributions on the baseball field. Bolden batted .500 in the Rams’ first four games and earned a win in relief with three strikeouts in 1.2 innings at Liberty.

Selected Rams compete in George Mason Winter Invitational

Four men’s track-and-field athletes finished well for VCU at the George Mason Winter Open Invitational Sat., Feb. 25.

Sophomore Matthew Sandridge (Mechanicsville/ Atlee High School) earned second place for his 14 foot, 7.25 inch effort in pole vault, and freshman Chris Reynolds (Virginia Beach/ Kempsville High School) grabbed fourth with a vault of 14-1.25.

In the 500 meters, junior Paul Henderson (Suffolk/Nansemond River) finished with 1 minute, 48 seconds. and sophomore Jean-Pierre Giles (Hampton/Bethel High School) finished with a time of 1:08.89.

Miranda’s five hits propel Rams

Sergio Miranda (Bayamon, Puerto Rico) had five hits in six appearances, and the Trai Harris (Newport News/Woodside High School) drove in three runs with a bases-loaded triple to lead the Rams to a 15-5 win over Radford Wednesday night.

The Rams scored six runs in the seventh and seven runs in the eighth to break open a close game.

The Highlanders responded with five runs in the ninth, but it was not enough to overcome the Rams’ overwhelming lead.

Cody Eppley (Dillsburg, Pa.), Jared Bolden (Lynchburg/E.C. Glass) and Bill Weiland (Marlton, N.J.) combined to eight shutout innings before the Highlanders got on the scoreboard.

CAA championship safe in Richmond until 2012

The Colonial Athletic Association will keep “Jammin’ on the James” for a few more years. The league accepted an offer from the city of Richmond to continue hosting the men’s basketball championships through 2012.

Questions existed if the league would remain in Richmond with new members as far away as Boston and Atlanta. The annual tournament has taken place in the Coliseum since 1990, second to the Big East Conference’s tenure at Madison Square Garden in New York City. Last year’s tournament, in which Old Dominion prevailed over VCU in overtime, drew 30,000 fans during four days.