VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. — Every time Roanoke College's Maroons did something right to pull closer in Friday's Old Dominion Athletic Conference men's basketball game at Virginia Wesleyan College, the host Marlins would put together a run to repad the lead.
A 7-0 run, followed by an 8-0 spurt, then another 7-0 surge and finally and 11-1 run helped keep Roanoke playing comeback and catapulted Virginia Wesleyan to an impressive 85-58 victory at the Jane P. Batten Center.
Sophomore Brandon Adair, who scored a career-high 26 points, scored the first point of the game on a free throw for the Marlins, who never trailed. Virginia Wesleyan, now 6-0 overall and 2-0 in the ODAC, led by as many as 15 points in the first half, before Kevinn Hunter and Tee Jackson sparked an half-ending rally for Roanoke to cut the Marlins' lead to 38-30 at the break.
Roanoke (3-3, 0-2) sustained that momentum through the break and into the first two minutes of the second half, lopping VWC's lead to 38-37 with 17:52 remaining to be played. A key three-pointer by Jared Butler kept the Maroons within a 42-40 score with 16:42 on the clock, when the Marlins began their string of offensive spurts to undo whatever Roanoke would do to get closer.
When Butler hit the triple to pull the Maroons within two points, the Marlins scored seven unanswered points, with five points from senior Peter Warren, to open up a 49-40 spread. Kevinn Hunter tallied inside to cut the gap to seven points for Roanoke, and VWC answered with an 8-0 run, with five points from Adair, to reopen the lead to 57-42 with 10:41 remaining to be played.
Josh LaPorte and Jackson stoked the offense for Roanoke an pulled the Maroons back within 11 points at 59-48, and Virginia Wesleyan followed that with a 7-0 spurt, ignited by a three-pointer from rookie Ton Ton Balenga, to jump out to a 66-48 lead with 6:18 on the clock.
Hunter and Keith Carter scored to move the Maroons with a 66-52 score several minutes later, only to see the Marlins put on the ending surge that virtually iced the game. Virginia Wesleyan outscored the Maroons 11-1 in the next three minutes to post a 77-53 lead with 2:24 on the clock. Balenga and Warren both hit a three each in the surge.
Adair hit 8-of-12 shots from the field and was 10-of-12 from the free throw lines for the Marlins. Warren scored 14 points, helped by a 6-of-8 showing from the charity stripes, Balenga hit 13 points, nailing 3-of-5 triple attempts and junior Marques Fitch scored 11 points, hitting 4-of-5 from the field.
Hunter led scoring for Roanoke with 20 points, connecting on 10-of-17 field goal attempts. Jackson and Butler finished with 10 points each.
