MEN’S BASKETBALL

Senior shooting guard Jamal Shuler
(Jacksonville, N.C./Jacksonville) had his
hands full with Georgia State’s Leonard
Mendez, the third-best scorer in the CAA,
last Thursday. On Saturday, Shuler had
the task of guarding the CAA’s leading
scorer, Hofstra’s Antoine Agudio.

Shuler held Agudio to 14 points, 10
below his average, on only 11 shots to
lead VCU to a 59-49 victory at the Stuart
C. Siegel Center.

“I just wanted to not let him get going
from the three-point line,” Shuler said
of his defensive effort.

Shuler added he would rather have
had Agudio get to the rim for layups
and shooting 15-foot jump shots.

“He’s not going to beat us that way,”
he said.

Without Agudio’s scoring, Hofstra
couldn’t get anything going on offense.
The Pride shot just 38.6 percent from the
field. VCU also forced 17 turnovers.

“Our focus was on the defensive
end,” VCU head coach Anthony Grant
said. “Where we struggled tonight was
offensively.”

Grant’s comments alluded to the
number of turnovers and lack of scoring.
For the second consecutive game the
Rams were held under 60 points and
also committed 17 turnovers.

“A lot of it was our guys forcing things
that weren’t there. Anytime you can
consistently defend the way we defend,
you are putting yourself in a position to
win,” Grant said. “What I told our guys
is stop negating that with the way we
are playing offense.”

The Rams shot only 25.9 percent in
the first half and 36.5 percent for the
game. However, Hofstra was unable to
get any closer than four in the final five
minutes of the game.

VCU held a 27-22 lead at halftime,
but looked to be comfortably ahead just
five minutes into the second half when a
12-4 run put the Rams up 39-26. VCU
held leads between eight and 12 points
before Hofstra was able to knock the
lead down to four at 49-45 with 4:36
to play. However, the Rams finished out
the game on a 10-4 run, which included
six points from point guard Eric Maynor
(Raeford, N.C./Westover).

Maynor finished with a game-high
18 points to go along with three assists.
Shuler and senior forward Wil Fameni
(Douala, Cameroon/Amelia Academy)
finished with 10 points each.

Freshman point guard Joey Rodriguez
(Oviedo, Fla./Lake Howell) and
sophomore forward Kirill Pishchalnikov
(Makop, Russia/MGGTK AGU) both
made their first career start in the
victory.

The Rams are back in action on
Wednesday night against conferenceleading
Delaware.

Inside the numbers

Hofstra (1-4 CAA, 3-11): Townes 8, D. Johnson 7, Agudio 14,
G. Johnson 0, Jenkins 9, Lester 6, Sestokas 2, Cherilus 0,
Washington 0, Davis-Sabb 3. Totals: 17 15-23 49.

VCU (4-1 CAA, 11-4): Fameni 10, Pishchalnikov 4, Maynor
18, Rodriguez 5, Shuler 10, Sanders 6, Rozzell 0, Anderson
4, Kearse 0, Nixon. Totals: 19 18-22 59. 3-pointers: Maynor 2,
Rodriguez.

MEN’S BASKETBALL STANDINGS
games team conference overall back streak

Delaware 5-0 8-7 – W4
VCU 4-1 11-4 1 W3
George Mason 3-2 11-5 2 W1
James Madison 3-2 10-5 2 W1
Old Dominion 3-2 8-9 2 L1
William & Mary 3-2 7-8 2 W3
UNC Wilmington 2-3 9-8 3 L1
Northeastern 2-3 6-9 3 L1
Towson 2-3 6-9 3 W1
Drexel 1-4 8-9 4 L3
Georgia State 1-4 4-11 4 L3
Hofstra 1-4 3-11 4 L2