SALEM, VA--The second ranked Tigers of Hampden-Sydney College defeated the Roanoke College Maroons, 81-66, on Saturday afternoon in Old Dominion Athletic Conference men's basketball action. The Tigers improve to 12-1 on the season and 6-1 in the ODAC, while host Roanoke, which drops its first home game of the season, falls to 7-6, 2-4.
Hampden-Sydney now owns a two-game winning streak over the Maroons and has won 15 of the past 21 meetings. This was the first time since the 1992-93 season that the Maroons and Tigers squared off both coming off losses.
A 10-point game at the half, 38-28 in favor of the Tigers, quickly blew-up to a 20-point lead in the first four minutes of the second half as the Maroons turned the ball over on seven of their first 10 possessions. Hampden-Sydney took advantage of those Roanoke miscues, outscoring the Maroons 12-2 at putting the game out of reach. The Tiger-lead would extend to as many as 23 points in the second half. In all, the Maroons committed 10 turnovers in the second half and allowed the Tigers to shoot 51.7 percent from the floor. Led by Marcus Gregory's two steals, the Tigers had seven as a team in the decisive second.
Hampden-Sydney led from wire-to-wire with the exception of one tie with 17:12 left in the first. Leading by one (12-11) with 10:42 to go in the first, the Tigers proceeded to go on a 14-1 run to extend the lead out to 13 points. Roanoke fought back to within 28-24, but went into the intermission down 10 points after the Tigers put together a 10-4 stretch in the final 3:39 of the frame.
Lane Brooks led the way for the Tigers with 20 points on 8-of-12 shooting. The junior scored Hampden-Sydney's first 10 points of the ball game and finished the first half with 18 in the scoring column. David Willson scored 14 in the first half for the victors and completed the game with 18. Brooks also added a game-high 11 rebounds for HSC.
Roanoke's Josh Foster tallied 17 and also added four rebounds. Robby Pridgen had 14 points, four rebounds, six assists, and three steals. The Maroons shot just 34.3 percent in the ball game and were outrebounded 44-39.
Roanoke heads back to the court on Sunday as it travels to Lynchburg College for a 5:00pm tip-off. The Maroons look to break their two-game losing streak. Roanoke has won 10 straight over Lynchburg.
