SALEM, VA—The Roanoke College men's basketball team split a pair of road games over the weekend, falling to Hampden-Sydney, 75-69, on Saturday before rebounding to defeat Lynchburg, 68-64, on Sunday. After the two contests, the Maroons are now 9-4 on the season and 4-3 in Old Dominion Athletic Conference action. The win over Lynchburg was the 100th all-time for the Maroons over the Hornets. That's the first team the Maroons have ever beaten 100 times. The series now stands at 100-21 in Roanoke's favor.
In Saturday's loss to Hampden-Sydney College, the Maroons fell behind by as many as 19 points in the first half before trimming the lead to just 12 at the intermission. The Maroons were in control of the second half, closing to within two points late, but could not overtake the Tigers.
The Tigers extended the lead to as many as 13 points in the second, but the Maroons used an 8-0 surge to trim the lead to six with 13:57 left. RC's Colby Leftwich (Roanoke, VA/Patrick Henry) then dropped in a layup with 6:13 to go, but that was the closest the Maroons would get. The Maroons were within three with just over a minute to play, but the Tigers converted three free throws to ice the game.
Brad Dunleavy (Roanoke, VA/William Fleming) scored 17 points to pace the Maroons, with Leftwich contributing 11 points and five rebounds.
The Maroons returned to action on Sunday and came away from Lyncbrug College with a 68-64 win over the Hornets. Robby Pridgen's (Akron, OH/St. Vincent-St. Mary) led all RC scorers in the game with 19. He went 6-of-9 from the field and threw in four three-pointers.
The Maroons went into the locker rooms sporting a 35-30 lead, only to see that evaporate and Lynchburg take as much as an eight point lead in the second half. Trailing by eight with 6:41 to go, the Maroons, out of a timeout, went on an 11-3 run to regain the lead. The Hornets tied the score at 62 with 1:32 left in the ball game, but Dunleavy converted a layup to give the Maroons the lead for good. After a Lynchburg miss on the other end with under a minute to play, Pridgen hit a three from the top of the key with just 19 ticks left to seal the win.
The Maroons also got 17 points from Dunleavy in the win and 10 from senior Jason Strickland (Roanoke, VA/Covenant). The Maroons turned the ball over just 10 times in the game and were led defensively by Strickland's three steals.
