Box Score GREENSBORO, NC--Trailing by 19 points, 33-14, with 4:19 remaining in the first half, it appeared as if the Roanoke College men's basketball team was on its way to its fifth Old Dominion Athletic Conference loss of the season and sixth overall loss on the year. Then, the hot shooting of freshman
Ben Shrader (Tazewell, VA/Mercer Christian Academy) and Roanoke's ability to adjust to Guilford pressure defense in the second half sparked one of the best Maroon comebacks in recent memory, with the Maroons outscoring Guilford 55-40 in the second half on their way to a 79-77 victory on Wednesday night. The Maroons, who have now won five consecutive games, improve to 8-5 overall on the season and 2-4 in the ODAC, while the Quakers fall to 8-5, 3-3 in league play. Roanoke's win was its first over the Quakers in Greensboro since the 2000-01 season.
The Quakers had the Maroons on the ropes just minutes into the game, taking an 11-point advantage eight minutes in. The Maroons scored just three points in the first eight minutes, falling behind 14-3. The Quaker defense kept the Maroons guessing and with 5:31 to play, the hosts took their first 19-point lead, 31-12. The Maroons cut the lead to 17, but GC again went up 19 on Thomas Burge fastbreak layup. Maroon reserve
Bart Davis (Huntington, WV/Fork Union) drilled a jumper from the wing to again make the GC edge 17. Then things got crazy.
Two minutes after Davis' shot and with 1:47 left on the clock,
Tee Jackson (Galax, VA/Carroll Co.) hit two free throws to trim Guilford's lead to 14, 35-21. On the ensuing Guilford possession, Jackson was called for a technical foul, a call that then prompted Roanoke head coach Page Moir to draw a technical. The Quakers, howver, could only convert two of the four free throws and led by 16 with 45 seconds left. With just four seconds to go in the half, Shrader hit a three-pointer from the wing to cut the Guilford lead to 13 points, 37-24. That shot was a sneak peek of things to come in the second half.
After shooting just 28 percent from the field in the first half, the Maroons came out firing on all cylinders in the second.
Josh LaPorte (Staunton, VA/Riverheads) got things going with a tip-in of a missed shot.
Kevinn Hunter (Dale City, VA/Gar-Field) followed with two layups and Robbie Winfield (Athens, TN/McMinn Co.) drained a three from the wing to make the score 37-33 in GC's favor.
Jared Butler (Springfield, VA/West Springfield) hit a jumper to cut the lead to two, a shot that was answered by Guilford. The Quakers did not score their first field goal until 16:54 showed on the second half clock.
After the Quaker field goal, the Shrader show began. The freshman countered with the first of his six three-pointers in the second half to give the Maroons the lead, 40-39 with 15:39 to play, their first lead of the game. The Quakers again countered with a layup, but Shrader responded with his second three in a row to give the Maroons a 43-41 edge. Butler scored six consecutive points, on back-to-back three-point plays,
Jamiel Allen (Richmond, VA/The Steward School) hit a long jumper, and
Mike Zurek (Palm Beach Gardens, FL/Suncoast) made two free throws to give the Maroons an 11-point lead. The Maroons opened the second half on a 31-7 run.
The Quakers made a run late in the game and with 1:59 left on the clock trimmed Roanoke's lead to just one 71-70. Forty seconds later Genaro Lawhorn finished a shot in the lane to regain the lead for the Quakers, 72-71, with 1:14 to play. Again it was Shrader that was the Maroon answer. The freshman hit the sixth of his three-pointers in the second half to give the Maroons a 74-72 lead. The final three was from the top of the key with a hand in his face. Five free throws down the stretch sealed the win for the Maroons.
Shrader finished the game with a career-high 29 points and finished the day just one three-pointer shy of tying a school record. He finished with eight in the contest, on 13 attempts. Shrader's previous career-high point total was 18. LaPorte again was the force for the Maroons on the glass, leading the way in the game with 10 boards. After struggling in the first half, Butler scored nine in the second and finished the day with 14. The Maroons outrebounded the Quakers 24-17 in the second half and limited the hosts to just four second-chance points in the second period of play. Roanoke made 56 percent of their shots in the second half as well.
The Maroons are back in action on Saturday as the travel to Hampden-Sydney, VA to square off against their archrivals of Hampden-Sydney College at 2:00pm. The team will then head to Lynchburg, VA to play Lynchburg College at 3:00pm on Sunday.
Roanoke vs. Guilford Box Score
