SALEM, VA--The Roanoke College men's basketball team ran its winning streak to a season-high three games with a 57-47 win over Washington & Lee University on Saturday evening in Salem, VA. The Maroons, who have now won 18 straight ball games over the Generals, improve to 11-8 on the season and 8-4 in the Old Dominion Athletic Conference. The Generals, whose last win over Roanoke came during the 1994-95 season, fall to 5-13, 2-10 in ODAC play. The win also propelled Roanoke head copach Page Moir into second place by himself on Roanoke's all-time wins last. Moir, who is in his 14th season with Roanoke has 252 career victories.
The difference in Saturday's game came midway through the second half. After Hamill Jones knocked in a layup to give the Generals a 35-34 lead with 14:34 to go in regulation, the Maroons used an 8-2 run to take a 42-37 lead, a lead they would not give up. Robby Pridgen (Akron, OH/St. Vincent-St. Mary) started the run with a three-pointer and Jason Graffam (Vienna, VA/Marshall) capped the run with a three of his own and a layup. After Jones' layup with 14 minutes to play, the Generals would make just three field goals over the next 11 minutes. In that time, the Maroons made just four shots themselves, but converted on seven free throws to push their lead out to as many nine. Roanoke's final 11 points of the game, all coming with less than 7:50 to go, came from the free throw line. The Maroons' last field goal was a layup by Drew Crowder (Radford, VA/Radford) with 9:53 to play.
In the earlier stages of the game, the Maroons jumped out to as much as an 11-point lead, that at 17-6 with 13:01 to go in the first half, but the Generals responded with a 16-3 run to take a 22-20 lead with 9:03 to go. Ian McClure was the catalyst in that W&L run, draining two three-pointers and getting eight of the 16 points. The Maroons recaptured the lead and led by four points with less than a minute to play in the first, but McClure scored the half's final three points to cut Roanoke's lead to 30-29 at the break.
Pridgen finished with 17 points for the Maroons, a game-high, but made just four of his 10 field goal attempts. He did make seven free throws and also dished out three assists and recorded two steals. Josh Foster (Roanoke, VA/Roanoke Valley Christian) was the only other Maroon in double-figures, dropping in 10. For the second consecutive game, junior John Rutledge (Abingdon, VA/Abingdon) had a career-high six rebounds for the Maroons.
McClure led all Generals with 16 points, draining three three-pointers. He also grabbed six boards for W&L and had two assists. Scott Hetterman tallied 11 points and grabbed a team-high eight rebounds. The Generals made three more field goals than did the Maroons, but were outscored 19-2 at the free throw line.
The Maroons are back in action on Wednesday, traveling to Bridgewater College for a 7:00pm contest with the Eagles. The team will then return home next Saturday for a 3:00pm tip against Lynchburg College.
