SALEM, VA--The Roanoke College men's basketball team continued its recent dominance of Washington and Lee, defeating the Generals for the 15th consecutive time, this a 71-56 win in Salem, VA on Saturday evening. The Maroons improve to 7-4 on the season and 2-2 in the Old Dominion Athletic Conference.
The Generals, who have not beaten the Maroons since the 1994-95 season, fall to 3-7 overall in 2001-2002, including a 1-4 record in the ODAC. Overall the Maroons own a 62-33 lead in the all-time series with W&L. The win was the 150th ODAC victory for head coach Page Moir, the fourth active league coach to reach the mark.
Trailing by two points at the half after shooting just 33.3 percent from the floor in the opening 20 minutes of the ball game, the Maroons quickly took control of the contest in the second when Jaimar Mansel (Akron, OH, St. Vincent/St. Mary's)hit one of his two three-pointers in the contest 1:40 into the period. The Maroons would lose that lead twice over the next seven minutes, but neither time by more than one point. Freshman center Kevinn Hunter (Dale City, VA, Gar-Field)hit a layup from the left side of the paint with 11:03 to go in the contest to give RC the lead for good. That bucket sparked a 12-2 Roanoke run that put the Maroons up 10. The lead would be as high as 18 late in the contest.
Trailing by two early in the first W&L, used a 10-0 run to take an eight point lead on the Maroons and led by as many as nine. The Maroons closed the first with a 10-4 spurt to cut the lead to just two at the break, 32-30.
Roanoke's Heath Puckett (Bland, VA, Bland)had one of his better collegiate contests, posting his first career double-double with a career-high 14 points and a personal-best 12 rebounds. Sophomore guard Bryan Fasnacht (Salem, VA, Glenvar), playing in just his third game of the season with the Maroons, was the only other player in double-figures for the home team with 11. Fasnacht also had three assists and three steals. As a team, the Maroons committed just 11 turnovers.
Washington & Lee was paced by Mark Franceski's 13 points. Mike Stuart added 10 points for the Generals, while Scott Hetterman led the team with 10 boards. W&L shot just 33.3 percent from the field in the loss, the fourth consecutive RC opponent that has hit less than 40 percent of its field goal tries (Roanoke has won all four contests).
Roanoke heads to Greensboro, NC on Wednesday for a contest with the Quakers of Guilford College. Renovations in Guilford's home gymnasium have moved the game to Greensboro Day School. Game time is still set for 7:00.
