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ATLANTA -- While the college basketball world focused on the Duke-North Carolina showdown on Wednesday night, a North Carolina native who beat Duke in the NCAA tournament last year played the role of the hero again for Virginia Commonwealth

Remember Eric Maynor? You may not recognize the name, but if you followed last year's NCAA tournament, you remember his last-second jumper knocked out Duke in the first round. CBS's Kevin Harlon screamed"Is this the dagger?" as Maynor broke a 77-77 tie in the final seconds. A North Carolina fan growing up who was not recruited by any ACC schools, Maynor took extra pleasure in sticking a fork in the Devils.

"I watched [replays] until I got tired of watching it," Maynor said. "People talk about it all the time."

Maynor made all the key plays for VCU against Georgia State on Wednesday night, scoring the final seven points in regulation to send the game into overtime as he rescued the Rams from what would have been an ugly loss. VCU (17-5, 10-2) prevailed 65-60 in overtime against the CAA's 11th place team and maintained a slim first-place lead over William & Mary and George Mason in the conference standings.

"I was in attack mode," Maynor said after his heroics. "We needed some plays to be made."

Maynor, along with his fellow starters, was benched for a long stretch in the second half for what coach Anthony Grant said was "playing without passion." When the starters returned, VCU was down seven with seven minutes remaining. Maynor, who had just four points at the time, started carving up the Panthers' defense, forcing steals and willing VCU to an ugly win.

"He was well rested," said Georgia State coach Rod Barnes. "He's good when he's tired. He's a rested future pro player playing against a tired freshman [D.J. Jones]. That's not a good matchup for us."

Maynor tied the game on VCU's final possession, taking it to the hoop and banking a soft leaner in traffic. He scored VCU's first four points in overtime and finished with 16, giving the junior over 1,000 for his career.

"You want the ball in his hands as much as possible whether it is late game or during the game because he makes such good decisions with it," Grant said.

Maynor's shot against Duke last year was not his only memorable postseason moment. He put the Rams into the NCAA tournament with a remarkable final two minutes in the CAA final against George Mason when he outscored the Patriots 9-0. And against Pitt in the second round of the NCAA tourney, Maynor had one turnover in 42 minutes and scored 14 points as VCU lost in overtime.