SALEM, VA-The Roanoke College men's basketball team fell short in an upset bid of the fourth ranked Yellow Jackets of Randolph-Macon College on Saturday afternoon, falling to its Old Dominion Athletic Conference rival 78-68. The Yellow Jackets, who have won eight straight over Roanoke, improves to 15-1 overall and 9-1 in the ODAC. The Maroons are now 8-8 on the season and 2-7 in conference play. The Yellow Jackets entered the game ranked fourth in the D3Hoops.com national poll.
The Yellow Jackets opened the game on fire from the perimeter, making seven three-pointers in the first 13 minutes. With RMC holding a 4-0 lead, Kurt Bergmann started the show from outside, hitting three consecutive threes to help the team out to an early 13-3 lead. Drew Crowder scored Roanoke's first bucket of the game from three-point range with 15:54 to play, making the score 10-3, but Bergmann responded with the third of his shots. Ryan Stein followed with two straight threes of his own, and after seven minutes of play, the Yellow Jackets owned a 21-8 edge. Roanoke sophomore
Jamiel Allen made the score 21-10 with two foul shots, but Macon scored seven of the next nine points, the final three coming on a three from Adam Krovic, to make the score 28-12, RMC's largest lead of the contest.
Crowder and
Jason Graffam, who was playing his first contest since last Saturday, cut into the RMC lead with threes of their own. The Macon lead hovered around 10 points in the final 9:34 of the half, with Roanoke once getting the lead into double-digits, that on a
Kevinn Hunter layup with 3:22 to play. At the end of the half, which saw the teams make a combined 13 three-pointers, the Yellow Jackets owned a 40-30 lead. The squads shot 13-for-25 (52.0%) from three-point range in the first half alone.
As strong as RMC came out in the first half, the Maroons matched that intensity to start the second half of play. Roanoke's defense limited the Yellow Jackets to just seven points in the first seven minutes of the half, allowing the home standing squad to tie the score at 47.
NyJuan Hall got the Maroons going early, with steal and an end-to-end dunk on RMC's first possession of the half. After each team traded a three-pointer, the Maroons used a 12-4 run to even the score at 47. Graffam scored six of those points in the run, four coming from the free throw line.
Nine times over the next six minutes the game would be tied, with each team taking brief leads, none more than two point advantages. Stein burned the Maroons for his fourth three-pointer of the game to make the score 64-61, that with 6:47 to play, giving the Jackets the lead for good. The Maroons would get within one later, but RMC made 14 of 18 free throw attempts in the final six minutes to not only hold RC at arms length, but also build the lead back up to 10.
All five of RMC's starters reached double-figures in the scoring column, with Justin Wansley leading the way with 16. He was a perfect 10-for-10 from the free throw line and finished the contest with seven boards. Bergmann had nine of his 13 points on those early threes, while Stein got all of his 12 points from three-point land. As a team, the Jackets went 31-for-37 (83.8%) from the free throw line in the contest, that after entering the game shooting 69.6 percent on the season.
Graffam led the Maroons with 16 points, making seven of his eight free throws. The senior, who was injured in a home loss to Hampden-Sydney last Saturday and missed the past two games, also had seven rebounds. Jared Butler scored 14 points for Roanoke, which outrebounded its opponent (29-22) for the first time in six games.
The Maroons are back in action on Sunday in a home contest against Virginia Wesleyan at 2:00pm. The Marlins played at Washington & Lee on Saturday. RMC heads to W&L for a Sunday afternoon contest.
Roanoke vs. Randolph-Macon Box Score
