SALEM, VA--The second ranked Tigers of Hampden-Sydney College completed the season sweep of the Roanoke College Maroons, winning in Salem, VA 71-63 on Monday night. The Tigers, one of just two undefeated teams left in NCAA Division III men's hoops, improves to 22-0 overall and a perfect 16-0 in Old Dominion Athletic Conference play. The Maroons, who have lost five straight games to the Tigers, fall to 13-9 on the year and 10-5 in the ODAC and have their five-game winning streak snapped. The Roanoke loss was its eighth this season to a team that at one point during the year has received votes on the national level.
Marcus Gregory staked the Tigers to an early four-point lead, opening the game up with jumpers from the elbow. The Tiger defense, meanwhile, was stifling on the other end, holding the Maroons scoreless for the first 3:05 of the contest. The Maroons finally broke through on a Josh Foster layup. Robby Pridgen hit two free throws to tie the score seconds later. Drew Crowder drained a three to make the score 7-6 in Roanoke's advantage, and the host would hold that lead over the next five minutes. Roanoke's lead would get out to as many as six points, that on a Pridgen layup. Trailing by five (19-14) with 10:55 to play in the first half, the Tiger defense again took control of the game, holding the Maroons off the scoreboard for over two minutes. In that time, the Tigers had three steals, two by junior Brandon Randall, allowing them to regain the lead, and push it out to as many as six, 25-19. Jeff Monroe scored seven of the points in HSC's run. The Maroons fell behind by as many as eight, but used a 7-0 run with less than six minutes to go to knot the score at 31. The two teams traded leads three times over the final five minutes before the Tigers claimed a 37-36 halftime lead.
The first 10 minutes of the second half saw four tie scores and two lead changes. On a Jay Patrick layup with 12:51 to play in regulation, the Tigers had a six-point lead, 49-43. Over the next two minutes, the Tigers wouldn't score, but the Maroons would get six points to tie the score at 49. In that run, Pridgen hit two long three-point baskets and also added a breakaway layup following a steal. Marcus Gregory hit another jumper, that after one of Hampden-Sydney's 17 offensive rebounds, with 10:09 to play and the Tigers had the lead for good. After two Lane Brooks free throws gave the Tigers another eight-point lead, the Maroons were able to chip it down to two, 63-61, on a Kevinn Hunter second-chance layup (with 1:48 to go), but six HSC free throws down the stretch and a 1:45 RC scoring slump, gave the Tigers the win.
Four Tigers reached double-figures in the scoring column, with David Willson leading the way with 18. Willson made seven of his nine field goal attempts and also added seven rebounds. Randall finished with 12 points, but perhaps more importantly four steals. Monroe scored 13 and Gregory added 10 points and six assists. Twenty of Roanoke's turnovers in the game were a result of 11 HSC steals. The Tigers also controlled the boards, outrebounding Roanoke, 41-31.
Pridgen finished the game with 50.7 percent of his team's points, getting 32, just three shy of a career-high. He was 9-for-13 from the field, including 4-for-6 from three-point range, and 10-for-12 from the free throw line. The Maroons' next high scorer, Josh Foster, managed just nine points. The Tigers second-half zone defense held the Maroons to just nine fields over the final 20 minutes of play.
