SALEM, VA--The Roanoke College men's basketball team had its season come to an end on Sunday afternoon with a 71-63 loss to the Yellow Jackets of Randolph-Macon College in the semifinals of the Old Dominion Athletic Conference tournament. The Maroons end the season with a 17-10 overall record. The loss also broke a string of two consecutive seasons in which the team had played in the ODAC championship game.
Nathan Stewart (Christiansburg, VA/Auburn) was the star for the Maroons in the game, scoring a career-high 23 points, 15 of which came from three-point land. Stewart's hot hand from behind the three-point line was the key to Roanoke staying in the game late in the second half. The Maroons had trailed by as many as 10 points in the second half, but when Stewart hit the second of his five second half threes, with 8:25 to play, the score was knotted at 47.
The Yellow Jackets would quickly push the lead back to nine points, but Stewart hit three consecutive threes, in a span of 1:09, to bring the Maroons to within 60-58. The Maroons could never tie the score again and with Randolph-Macon making seven of its eight free throw attempts in the final 1:04 the game was put out of reach.
The Maroons had taken a 6-0 lead out of the gates, and held the Yellow Jackets scoreless for the first 3:33 of the game. The Maroons would have no lead bigger than six points in the contest. Roanoke went cold from the field midway through the first, allowing the Yellow Jackets to take the lead at 19-17 on a three-pointer by Tim Smith. Randolph-Macon would lead the rest of the way until Stewart's three in the second tied the score at 47.
The difference in the final score came at the free throw line. The Yellow Jackets outscored the Maroons 23-8 at the charity stripe. The Maroons attempted just two foul shots in the second half, compared to 20 for RMC. Randolph-Macon entered the game as the fourth worst free throw shooting team in the league, but made 23-of-26 on Sunday.
Stewart finished with a game and career-high 23 points and also added five rebounds. He hit nine of his 12 shots from the field. Drew Crowder (Radford, VA/Radford) was the only other Maroon in double-figures, scoring 10, six coming from three-point range. With five blocked shots as a team on Sunday, Roanoke tied a single-season school record, recording its 134th block of the year.
