SALEM, VA--The Roanoke College men's basketball team opened its 2005-06 season with a victory, as did the Tigers of Hampden-Sydney College on Saturday evening, both getting wins on the first day of the V-Foundation Classic in Salem, VA. The Maroons opened their year with a 71-69 win over Springfield (MA) College while the Tigers defeated Ithaca (NY) College 82-59. In pre-determined matchups, Roanoke will play Ithaca at 3:00pm on Sunday and Hampden-Sydney will square off with Springfield at 1:00pm.
Roanoke 71, Springfield 69
Down by two points with just over two seconds to play, the Pride purposely missed a free throw, got the offensive rebound, but were unable to connect on a last second shot, giving Roanoke the two-point victory.
Up by as many as 13 points in the second half, the Maroons allowed the Pride to battle back and take the lead at 66-65 with 3:40 left in the contest. The Maroons quickly recaptured the lead, 67-66, on two Jared Butler free throws, but Springfield tied the score at 67 moments later. After the Pride had evened the score with a free throw, sophomore Josh LaPorte gave the Maroons the lead for good with a layup with 1:47 left.
Roanoke had the two-point lead with just seven seconds left and had a chance to extend the lead to four, but missed the second of two free throws. That set up Anthony Pizzo's free throws. Pizzo made the first to make the score 71-69 and purposely missed the second.
Leading by one late in the first half, 24-23, the Maroons closed out the first 20 minutes of action on a 12-0 run to take a 13-point lead, 36-23, into the break.
The Maroons were unable to stop Springfield's Derek Yvon who finished the game with 31 points. He made 10 of his 20 field goals, five of his 12 three-point attempts, and all six of his free throws. Yvon also blocked two shots and added three assists. Mike DeCesar was the only other Pride player in double-figures, scoring 18.
Roanoke got a team-best 18 points out of both Jared Butler and Ben Shrader. The pair both finished the game with four three-pointers on seven attempts. AJ Dowell came off the bench to score 10 points.
Hampden-Sydney 82, Ithaca 52
The Tigers blew open an eight-point halftime lead early in the second half. The Tigers pushed their lead out to 15 points in the first seven minutes of the second half. Ithaca was never able to get to within any closer than 12 points the rest of the way.
Hampden-Sydney's Troy Kaase was a big key to Hampden-Sydney's ability to take control of things in the second half, scoring 19 of his game-best 26 points during the final 20 minutes of action. For the game, Kaase made 11 of his 14 field goal attempts and also added a team-best seven rebounds.
As a team, the Tigers were red-hot from the field, making 63.8 percent of their shots and 61.1 percent of their three-point attempts in the contest. Mike Edwards made four of his five three-point attempts and Drew Prehmus three of his four long-range shots.
Ithaca trailed by 11 points late in the first half, but Jim Bellis drained one of his three three-pointers to make the score 39-31 at the break. Bellis led the Bombers with 19 points in the contest. Jonathan Whetsone added 11 points for the Bombers.
