SALEM, VA--The Roanoke College men's basketball team defeated the Lynchburg College Hornets, 69-44, on Saturday afternoon to improve to 15-5 on the season and 10-4 in the Old Dominion Athletic Conference. The Hornets fall to 1-19 on the year, 1-13 in conference play. The Maroons have now won nine consecutive meetings over the Hornets and 30 of the past 31 meetings.
The 44 points the Hornets scored were the fewest amount by an RC opponent since Bridgewater scored just 49 in a game during the 1988-89 season. York (PA) College scored just 42 against the Maroons that same season.
A slow paced first half resulted in a 24-14 halftime lead for the Maroons. The teams combined to make just 15 field goals in the half. Lynchburg made six of those, Roanoke nine. The score was 12-11 in favor of the Hornets with 10:02 to go in the opening stanza, but the Maroons closed out the frame on a 13-2 run. Lynchburg's lone points in the final 10:20 of the half came on a Danny Swank (Fayetteville, WV/Fayetteville) jumper with 3:35 left.
Roanoke's 10-point halftime lead slipped to as few as three early in the second, as the Hornets came out of the locker room and went on a 11-4 run and came within 28-25 with 16:10 left in the game. The Hornets would then score just six points over the course of the next 10 minutes, and in that time the Maroons would jump out to a 60-31 lead.
Roanoke's defense hounded the Hornets all game long, allowing LC to shoot just 26.0 percent (13-of-50) from the field and forcing 25 LC turnovers. After connecting on just 33 percent of their attempts in the first half, the Maroons responded by hitting 47 percent in the second.
Brad Dunleavy (Roanoke, VA/William Fleming) was the only player in the contest to score in double-digits. The senior had 11 points and also added five rebounds. Robby Pridgen (Akron, OH/St. Vincent-St. Mary) and Jaimar Mansel (Akron, OH/St. Vincent-St. Mary) each added nine points to the Maroon effort. Both also led the Maroons with three steals each. Of the 16 Maroons that saw action in the contest, 12 made a dent on the scoreboard. Senior center Alex Phillips (Roanoke, VA/Cave Spring) was one of the four Maroons without a point, but created havoc in the lane, blocking a career-high four shots.
The Maroons host Hampden-Sydney College at 7:00pm on Monday night at the C. Homer Bast Center. After defeating Washington & Lee, 66-60, on Saturday, Hampden-Sydney enters the game with an 18-2, 12-2 record. The Tigers defeated Roanoke, 75-69, in Hampden-Sydney, VA on January 13th.
