SALEM, VA--The Roanoke College men's basketball team opened it's 2003-04 season with an 82-60 win over Earlham (IN) College on Saturday evening in Salem, VA. The Maroons won their season-opener for the fourth consecutive season and will next take on Rose-Hulman at 3:00pm in Salem. In Sunday's 1:00pm contests, Earlham will play Averett. Rose-Hulman picked up a 64-56 win over Averett in Saturday's first game in RC's C. Homer Bast Center.
Roanoke 82, Earlham 60
Roanoke's perimeter game early against Earlham proved to a major difference in the 82-60 victory. The Maroons opened the game with four of their first eight field goals coming from behind the three-point line. The Maroons jumped all over the Quakers in the first five minutes, getting out to a 20-4 lead. That lead was as much as 17 points (23-6) before back-to-back three from the Quakers helped cut the lead to eight (23-15). Jared Butler (Springfield, VA/West Springfield) hit one of his four three-pointers to push the lead back to double-digits, where it would stay the rest of the game. Roanoke's lead in the second half got to as many as 33 points.
Butler finished with a career-high 16 points, while Drew Crowder (Radford, VA/Radford) also scored a career-best 16 points and also tacked on a career-high eight rebounds. Kevinn Hunter (Dale City, VA/Gar-Field) and Jason Graffam (Vienna, VA/Marshall) each scored 13 for the Maroons who had four of their five starters in double-figures.
Brandon Miller led the way for the Quakers with 19 points, five rebounds, and two assists. Jermaine Crumby added 12 points and a game-high 14 rebounds for Earlham, which shot just 30 percent from the field in the game, including just 16 percent from three-point range.
Rose-Hulman 64, Averett 54
Philip Griffith scored 19 points and Jason Ludwig added 17 for Rose-Hulman which pulled off the 64-56 win over Averett in the day's first contest. Leading by eight points at the break, Rose-Hulman pushed it's lead out to as much as 16 points in the second half before watching the Cougars slowly chip away at the lead and close to within six with six minutes to play. The Cougars, however, were able to score just two points in the final two minutes of regulation and saw the Engineers hold on for their first victory of the season.
With both teams playing basically even from the field, Rose-Hulman got the advantage from the free throw line where it outscored the Cougars 19-13 for the game. The Engineers also held a 44-38 edge on the boards and allowed Averett to shoot just 31 percent from the field.
Kareem Lee had a double-double for RHIT with 12 points and 14 rebounds. He also added four steals and two assists. Joey Barksdale was the lone Cougar to hit double-digits in the scoring column, finishing the game with 15 points. Jermaine Costan and Jerrod Harris each added eight points.
