Rams’ toughness, Maynor’s heroics upset Blue Devils

BUFFALO, N.Y. – VCU was given the tough task of taking down the Duke Blue Devils, a team that had reached the Sweet 16 in each of the past nine consecutive seasons. The Rams would show they were up for the challenge, though, just as they had been all year long.

The Score
VCU 79
DUKE 77

The Rams got off to a precarious start with hot shooting by the Blue Devils (53.8 percent in the first half), who showed they were looking to exploit the undersized Rams – Wil Fameni (Douala, Cameroon/Amelia Academy) and Michael Anderson (Virginia Beach, Va./Landstown), who are both 6-7 – with 6-10 Josh McRoberts. Before the game, head coach Anthony Grant said, “we’re going to have to do it as a team. I don’t think any one individual on our team matches up man-for-man with McRoberts, so we’ll have to do it by committee.”

McRoberts was able to have his way for the most part, scoring a career-high 22 points in the game while playing all 40 minutes and also grabbing 12 rebounds. He led all scorers in the first half with 12 points as the Blue Devils jumped to a quick 22-9 advantage with 10:24 remaining in the first half, their largest lead of the game.

Just as soon as the young Duke squad thought it could flex its muscles, dominate the game and dictate the tempo, VCU adjusted to the magnitude of the game and opponent. That got the scoring rolling from Eric Maynor (Fayetteville,N.C./Westover) and B.A. Walker (Onancock, Va./Nandua), who combined for 17 of the 38 first half points, as Maynor dished out four assists. The Rams ended the half on a 21-12 spurt in the final 8:26 to close the game to a manageable 40-38 score.

Inside the numbers

VCU: Fameni 8, Anderson 10, Maynor 22, Walker 10, Pellot-Rosa 14, Coward 0, Ndongo 0, Shuler 14, Roland 0, Gwynn 1. Totals: 26 18-24 79. 3-pointers: Shuler 4, Pellot-Rosa 3, Walker 2.

Duke: McRoberts 22, Henderson 8, Paulus 25, Nelson 8, Scheyer 7, Pocius 3, Davidson 0, McClure 0, Thomas 4. Totals: 27 20-32 77. 3-pointers: Paulus 3.

Both teams raised their level of intensity in the second half, which was clearly apparent at several stages down the stretch Fameni ended up breaking his nose and Jon Scheyer of Duke suffered a cut to the eye on separate plays, though both players later returned.

The most intriguing match up as the game developed was between point guards Maynor and Greg Paulus. The two traded bumps and elbows every possession down the stretch and tempers occasionally flared, though both players insisted after the game that there was know ill-will between them and each complimented the other on being a fierce competitor.

Senior Jesse Pellot-Rosa (Richmond, Va./George Wythe) scored five points in the span of 1:48, helping to chip away at the Blue Devils’ lead, which was never stretched to more than nine points in the half. More defensive pressure helped the Rams to a 10-1 run when they finally took the lead, briefly, 68-67, on an Anderson free throw with 5:59 remaining in the game.

After the lead seesawed back and forth for several minutes, Maynor, who led the Rams with 22 points, gave the fans at HSBC Arena an encore performance of his leadership of ten days earlier against George Mason in the CAA Tournament. He gave his team the lead on a jumper, 74-72, with just 1:25 remaining, only to see his counterpart, Paulus, tie the game again 23 seconds later. Those would be the last of Paulus’ career-high 25 points in the game, and he was then forced to give way to Maynor. The teams exchanged several free throws to knot the score at 77 with 12 seconds remaining.

Despite the fact that each school is allotted the same number of tickets to sell to fans, the neutral spectators began to heavily support the underdog Rams during the game’s final sequence.

With just those 12 seconds to work with, Grant was contemplating calling a timeout. Maynor quickly gestured over to the sideline indicating that he had the situation under control. He dribbled down the court and his teammates set him up for a short jumper that fell with just two seconds left on the clock, giving the Rams a 79-77 lead. Paulus attempted a low-percentage heave of the ball from beyond half court, but it wasn’t on target.

Said Maynor on Friday, “It feels great. It feels real good. I’ve seen the shot a lot. I was watching ESPN a lot and I’m just living in the moment, like coach Grant always tells us, live in the moment.”

The win propelled VCU into the second round of the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 1985.