SALEM, VA-The Roanoke College Maroons and SUNY New Paltz Hawks will meet for the championship of the 11th Annual V-Foundation Classic after both getting wins on the first day of the tournament on Wednesday evening in Salem, VA. Roanoke defeated St. Joseph's (ME) College, 90-72, while the Hawks downed Ferrum College in the first game of the day, 69-65, coming back from a five-point halftime deficit. The Maroons and Hawks will play at 7:00pm on Thursday in Salem, while Ferrum and St. Joseph's will tip-off at 5:00pm.
The tournament raises money for the both the V-Foundation for Cancer Research and the American Cancer Society. Proceeds are raised through both a raffle and silent auction and over the past 10 seasons has brought in over $80,000.
Roanoke 90, St. Joseph's (ME) 72
The Maroons (6-3) led by eight points at the half, 43-35 and held that same advantage with 9:20 remaining in the contest. However, a 23-10 run over the next eight minutes gave the home team a 21-point lead with just under two minutes to go. Sophomore forward NyJuan Hall (Alexandria, VA/Edison), who was making his first career collegiate start, scored seven points in that run and finished the game with a career-best 12 points. The Maroons shot 46 percent from the field in the second half and finished the contest with their largest offensive output of the season.
Three other Maroons scored in double-figures, including Jared Butler (Springfield, VA/West Springfield) who had 19 and Jason Graffam (Vienna, VA/Marshall) who had 11 points and a game-high 12 rebounds. The Maroons trailed just twice in the contest, once with 15:57 to play in the first half (8-7) with the second time coming with 8:43 to go in the opening 20 minutes (26-24). Roanoke did allow the Monks to get 23 offensive rebounds, two more than they had at the defensive end of the floor. Thirteen of those offensive boards came in the second half of play.
Leroy Gore scored 17 points for the Monks (4-9) and also had 10 rebounds, getting nine of the team's 23 offensive boards. Mike Stallings finished the contest with a game-best 21 points.
SUNY New Paltz 69, Ferrum 65
The Hawks (3-3) fought back from a five-point halftime deficit to get the win in the first game of the tournament. Ferrum, which led 27-22 at the half, opened the second half scoring on a three-pointer from Chris Smith to take an eight points lead. Minutes later, trailing by eight, the Hawks used a 10-2 spurt to tie the score at 34, the tie coming on a John Hauser layup with 15:59 to go in regulation. A back-and-forth battle saw the score tied seven times during the second half, that was until two free throws from Jayvard Smith with 4:32 to play in the contest gave New Paltz the lead for good.
Hauser had the game's best all-around performance, scoring 17 points and adding 13 rebounds and four steals. Steve Ott scored 14 points for the winners and also tied Hauser for the game's lead with 13 boards. Smith tallied 17 points for the Panthers, who fell to 5-5 on the season. He made five of the team's seven threes.
