TOWSON, Md. – Senior Eric Maynor (Raeford, N.C.) scored 27 points and handed out nine assists as Virginia Commonwealth University built a 15-point lead and held on for a 78-71 win Wednesday at the Towson Center.

The Rams have won four straight to improve to 12-5 overall and 5-1 in the Colonial Athletic Association. VCU also raised its all-time record against Towson to 15-1. The Tigers slip to 7-11 and 2-4 in CAA play.

Maynor, who scored 13 of his points in the second half, drilled a 3-pointer with 4:05 remaining to give the Rams their biggest lead at 70-55.

However, back-to-back jumpers from Towson’s Jarrel Smith trimmed the margin to 71-61. Rocky Coleman and Junior Hairston added buckets a short time later to pull the Tigers within71-65 with 1:47 left.

Towson would pull within four points, but VCU hit 7-of-8 free throws down the stretch to hold on for the victory. Sophomore Joey Rodriguez (Oviedo, Fla.) dropped five of those six free throws.

The Rams received strong numbers from its post players. Sophomore Larry Sanders (Fort Pierce, Fla.) turned in his fourth double-double in six games with 13 points, 10 rebounds and three blocked shots. Junior forward Kirill Pishchalnikov (Maykop, Russia) added 12 points and seven rebounds.

Josh Thornton scored 20 points and Junior Hairston added 18 points and 10 rebounds to lead Towson.

For Maynor, his 27 points moved him into seventh place on VCU’s all-time scoring list with 1,572. He needs 13 more to move past Jesse Dark for sixth.

VCU returns home for its highly-anticipated match-up with arch-rival Old Dominion Saturday, Jan. 17 at 4 p.m. at the Siegel Center.