RICHMOND, Va. – Senior Eric Maynor (Raeford, N.C.) led all scorers with 21 points and sophomore Larry Sanders (Fort Pierce, Fla.) turned in his fourth double-double of the season in Virginia Commonwealth University’s 68-60 victory over Hofstra Saturday at the Alltel Pavilion at the Stuart C. Siegel Center.
VCU has won three straight to improve to 11-5 overall and 4-1 in the Colonial Athletic Association. Hofstra falls to 10-6 and 2-3 in league play. The Pride are 0-7 all-time at the Siegel Center.
Sanders finished with 16 points, 13 rebounds and several of crowd-pleasing dunks. Junior Kirill Pishchalnikov (Maykop, Russia) and sophomore Joey Rodriguez (Oviedo, Fla.) added 10 points apiece for the Rams.
Charles Jenkins led Hofstra with 15 points, eight rebounds and five assists.
Six of Maynor’s points came during an 8-0 VCU spurt midway through the second half, which provided the Rams with a 52-40 cushion with 6:04 remaining. Hofstra would get no closer than eight points the rest of the way.
Maynor also sent the Black and Gold to a 28-27 halftime lead when he raced down the floor and drilled a 15-foot jumper as time expired.
With 21 points, Maynor also moved past Gerald Henderson and into ninth place on the school’s career scoring list with 1,545.
VCU, which held Drexel to just 46 points and 26 percent shooting Thursday, limited the Pride to 39-percent (22-of-57) shooting from the field Saturday.
The Rams made only one 3-point field goal in six tries, but committed just nine turnovers and connected on 23-of-32 free throws on the day.
“We were missing shots we normally make, but our guys never got frustrated,†VCU Head Coach Anthony Grant said. “They continued to guard, continued to do the things we needed to win. That’s something as a coach that you’re proud to see, because that’s showing me maturity for our basketball team.â€Â
