Photo Courtesy of Mark Campbell

NEWARK, DE -- Eric Maynor scored 21 points, dished out 10 assists, and pulled a team-high seven rebounds and Jamal Shuler scored eight of his 21 points as part of a decisive 16-0 Virginia Commonwealth run in the second half as VCU held off a University of Delaware upset bid and posted an 83-73 Colonial Athletic Association men's basketball win over the Blue Hens Saturday afternoon at the Bob Carpenter Center.

Delaware (10-13, 7-6 CAA) held a seven-point advantage over the league-leading Rams early in the second half, but went over seven minutes without a field goal after that as VCU took control. The Blue Hens were hurt by an uncharacteristic 19 turnovers.

Freshman forward Alphonso Dawson (at right) exploded for a career-high 25 points for the Blue Hens, the fourth highest total ever by a UD freshman. Herb Courtney added 21 points and six rebounds, Jim Ledsome added 10 points and nine rebounds before fouling out, and Marc Egerson contributed nine points and nine rebounds as the Hens held a 43-26 advantage on the boards.

“They have so much depth, it wore us down and really had an effect on the outcome of the game,” said Delaware head coach Monté Ross. “We got a big push from Jim Ledsome, but when he picked up his fourth foul and went out of the game, VCU went on their run. We had some uncharacteristic turnovers and some of that was due to fatigue.”

Virginia Commonwealth (18-5, 11-2 CAA), the defending league champion, committed just six turnovers, none by point guard Maynor, and were aided by 50 percent shooting (30 of 60) from the field. Michael Anderson added nine points and Lance Kearse came off the bench to add nine points as he hit three of the Rams’ nine three-pointers. VCU won its third straight game and posted its 10th victory in the last 11 outings.

VCU, which defeated Delaware for the 10th straight time, including its fourth straight win over the Blue Hens at the Bob Carpenter Center, took a 40-39 lead into the half, but the Blue Hens reeled off the first seven points of the second stanza, including five by Dawson, and eventually took a 54-47 lead with 15:50 left after a Ledsome dunk.

The Rams took over from there with a 21-4 run as the Hens managed just four free throws while missing seven straight shots from the field and turning the ball over four times in an agonizing stretch of almost eight minutes. By the time Dawson hit a jumper with 8:07 left, VCU had built its lead to 68-60. The Hens never got closer the rest of the way.

After Egerson’s two free throws gave Delaware a 58-52 lead with 14:14 left, VCU took off on a 16-0 run that decided the game. Shuler hit a three-pointer with 13:57 left to cut the UD lead to three and then hit another long-range bomb 29 seconds later to tie the game at 58-58.

VCU took the lead for good on a layup by Wil Fameni with 11:29 left, Shuler’s layup upped the lead to four, and Kearse and Maynor each followed with three-pointers to push the lead to 10.

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