VCU breaks Wednesday curse in OT

With six minutes left in the first half, VCU saw its two leading scorers, Larry Sanders (Ft. Meyers, Fla./Port St. Lucie) and Eric Maynor (Raeford, N.C./ Westover) go to the bench with foul trouble.

After a Maynor technical, subsequent free throws and a Dazzmond Thornton lay-up, the Rams found themselves down six and struggling mightily.

The Rams overcame James Madison to avoid a three-game Wednesday night losing streak, winning 76-71.

Despite the bleak situation in the first half, the Rams got retaliatory efforts from sophomores Brandon Rozzell (Richmond/Highland Springs) and Joey Rodriguez (Olviedo, Fla./ Lake Howell) to keep up with James Madison before the half.

“We just knew it was time for us to start playing . Everybody knew what we had to do to keep the intensity up,” Rozzell said.

VCU kept up that intensity in what was one of the toughest second halves the Rams have played all season.

But as regulation ticked down, Maynor took over the game … again.

Maynor scored 13 points in the final 3:40 and in overtime and sealed the deal with a free throw to score the games final point.

“I’ve had the pleasure of coaching him for three years and I know how competitive he is and the thing I told him was that in the second half, our team was going to look to him for leadership,” VCU coach Anthony Grant said.

Maynor showed the talent and qualities that make him one of the top players in the country.

He finished the game with a 22-point performance, to lead all scorers.

Also for the Rams, Bradford Burgess hit another clutch three from the wing with 20 seconds left in overtime, which made it a two-possession ball game.

The three, combined with Maynor’s free throw gave the Rams a hard-fought 76-71 win. Coupled with Northeastern loss against Drexel, VCU moved into a tie for first in the conference with the win.

For JMU, Julius Wells put on a show from the perimeter, when he went on a 9-2 run on his own. He ended up with four 3-pointers on the night and 20 points.

They also got 13 points from Devon Moore, 12 from Dazzmond Thornton and 11 from Ben Louis.

“It was a had-fought game. I thought we played just as hard as they (VCU) did, and if we didn’t play hard, we weren’t going to be in the game,” JMU coach Matt Brady said.

The Rams travel to Old Dominion Saturday for another game against their in-conference archrival.

BY THE NUMBERS

VCU (18-7, 11-3) Sanders 8, Pishchalnikov 8, Maynor 22, Rodriguez 12, Burgess 8, Saintill 0, Rozzell 13, Gwynn 2, Nixon 3. 25 14-25 76. 3-pointers: Maynor, Rodriguez 2, Burgess 2, Rozzell 3.

James Madison (16-10, 8-6) Swanston 5, Wells 20, Thornton 12, Moore 13, Curtis 2, Ratner 2, Louis 11, Parker 6. 27 14-17 71. 3-pointers: Swanston, Wells 4, Louis, Parker.