University of Richmond Athletics
University of Richmond
VCU
VCU Wins Annual Farm Bureau Insurance Black & Blue Classic
12/08/2007 | Men's Basketball
Dec. 8, 2007
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| SpiderTV Wrap-Up 
RICHMOND, Va. - Eric Maynor scored 25 points, leading VCU to a 65-45 win over Richmond Wednesday night in the Farm Bureau Insurance Black & Blue Classic at Alltel Pavilion in downtown Richmond. Kevin Anderson scored 10 points to pace a balanced Spider attack, which trailed by just one at halftime.
The Rams embarked on an 11-0 run to open the second half and never looked back in improving to 6-3 overall. Maynor was nine-of-17 from the field and scored his most points of the season since dropping 27 on Miami (Fla.).
"Eric controlled the game, that's something we were afraid of," Richmond head coach Chris Mooney said. "We wanted to try to not let Eric control the game, but he's a good ball handler. It's hard, they rely on him and look for him to reset things when the shot clock is running down."
Trailing by as many as nine in the first half, the Spiders (4-6) rallied with a 15-2 run to open a six-point margin with 2:06 remaining in the period. Senior Oumar Sylla's jumper gave Richmond its first lead (24-23) and Anderson's trey capped the run, giving the visitors their largest lead at 29-23.
But Maynor drained back-to-back threes in the half's closing minute, allowing the Rams to take a 31-30 lead into the locker room. The junior then scored the first nine points of the second half, electrifying the sellout crowd of 7,530.
"We have not been very good in the second half this season," Mooney said. "I can't put my finger on it, but we've been working on it and we're going to continue to try to figure it out. I think part of it is obviously our youth."
Anderson grabbed four rebounds to go with his 10 points in 38 minutes.
"For him to play 38 minutes in this environment is good," Mooney said. "He's a good player and does a lot of great things for us, but he still has to keeping improving."
Sophomore Dan Geriot chipped in nine points to go with a team-leading five boards. Sylla had seven and Ryan Butler had six points and three steals.
The Spiders, who were outrebounded 40-29, have been been no worse than down one free throw at the half in nine of 10 games this season. Richmond shot a season-low 29.4 percent from the field for the game.
The Spiders break for exams and return to action on Dec. 19 when they host Old Dominion at 7 p.m. as part of a doubleheader with the women's team. The Richmond women's team hosts Albany at 4:30 p.m.
