Spring Break
Dragons fall to first-place VCU
Mike Mazzeo
Issue date: 2/1/08 Section: Sports
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After all, the Dragons trailed by just one at the halftime despite their leading scorer and rebounder Frank Elegar being forced to sit for the final 15:25 after picking up his second foul.
Drexel had also held VCU's preseason conference player of the year candidate Eric Maynor to just two points and gotten a surprising offensive lift from Rob Hampton and little used Yannick Formbor.
Unfortunately, there were still another 20 minutes to play and Maynor made sure there would be no such upset.
Maynor reeled off 11 consecutive points, turning a slim one-point second half lead into a 12-point cushion, as the Rams (15-4, 8-1 CAA) defeated the Dragons (9-12, 2-7 CAA) 76-62 Jan. 26 in front of a sellout crowd of 7,506 at the Siegel Center.
"Coach Grant just told us to keep being aggressive and things would open up a little," Maynor said. "In the second half we were able to get out in transition, get stops and rebound the basketball."
Drexel, which led by as many as six in the first half, has now lost three straight and six of its last seven.
Maynor finished with a game-high 20 points and team-high five assists. He was one of four Rams in double figures. Jamal Shuler had 17 points and a game-high eight rebounds while Joey Rodriguez and Michael Anderson each added 10 points.
A jumper by Randy Oveneke cut the VCU lead to 37-36 with 14:25 remaining, but that's when Maynor put the game out of reach.
He proceeded to score all the Rams points during an 11-0 run over the next 2:14, including a pair of free throws ensuing from a technical foul by Drexel head coach Bruiser Flint that put the Dragons away for good.
"It was my fault," Flint said of picking up the technical. "I think it changed the game because it was [an eight-point game] and then it went to 10 and we never got back that way. I was a little bit too emotional."
Drexel never got closer than eight the rest of the way.
"I think great players respond to challenges," VCU head coach Anthony Grant said of Maynor's ability to bounce back from a slow start.
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