SALEM, VA--The Roanoke College men's basketball team completed the regular season series sweep of the Lynchburg College Hornets with a 79-67 win on Saturday afternoon in Salem, VA. The Maroons, who beat the Hornets by the same score on the road in January, improve to 13-8 on the season and 10-4 in the Old Dominion Athletic Conference. With two weeks left in the regular season, the Maroons also move into third place in the ODAC standings thanks to a Virginia Wesleyan loss to Randolph-Macon on Saturday. Lynchburg, which has only won 18 of the 123 all-time meetings with the Maroons, fall to 6-16 on the season and 3-12 in the ODAC.
The Hornets came out firing on all cylinders early in the game, connecting on six of their first nine shots to take a 14-7 lead. Two of those six field goals were three-pointers from Andy Albright. Josh Cobbs scored consecutive layups and the Hornets held that seven-point lead with 15:51 to go in the first. The Maroons, however, clamped down on defense, holding the Hornets scoreless over the next 4:55 and in the process took a 16-14 lead. Jason Graffam (Vienna, VA/Marshall) completed a three-point play to give the Maroons the lead. The Hornets would tie the score at 18, but Roanoke's Josh Foster (Roanoke, VA/Roanoke Valley Christian) and Robby Pridgen (Akron, OH/St. Vincent-St. Mary) combined to score nine straight points and the Maroons had the lead for good.
Coming out in the second half, the Maroons, who held a 43-35 lead at halftime watched the Hornets trim the lead to four twice, but another 9-0 run by the Maroons put the lead back to double-digits. A Nate Stewart (Christiansburg, VA/Auburn) second chance layup was followed by a Foster three-pointer and the Maroons had pushed the lead to nine. Roanoke's lead got to 14, 57-43, on a Pridgen three-pointer with 14:49 to go. The Hornets were twice able to cut the lead to single-digits, but never got closer than seven.
Despite making five fewer field goals in the game, the Maroons scored the 12-point lead thanks to a 27-5 edge at the free throw line. Pridgen finished with 10 free throws made, while Foster made seven of his 10 attempts. Foster led all scorer with 20 points in Roanoke's win, falling three points shy of tying his career-high. Graffam finished with a season-high 16 points and also stole the ball a career-high five times. Pridgen and Drew Crowder (Radford, VA/Radford) each finished the game with three of Roanoke's 12 steals.
Cobbs led all Lynchburg scorers, getting 17 points and also adding seven rebounds, five coming off of the offensive glass. Albright drained four threes in the game and had 14 points, four assists, and three steals. Hornet leading scorer Ryan Pehanick also got to double-digits with 12.
The Maroons host Hampden-Sydney College at 7:00pm on Monday evening. The Tigers will come to Salem as the nation's second ranked team in Division III and sporting a 21-0 overall record and a 15-0 ODAC mark.
