SALEM, Va. - While the offense continued to try to find some consistency on Saturday, the defensive side of things showed signs of gelling for Virginia Wesleyan College's basketball Marlins.
More alert defensive play and a dominating board game combined to help the Marlins pin a 58-41 Old Dominion Athletic Conference loss on Roanoke College, which entered the game with a 6-0 record.
The 41 points scored by the host team was the lowest total for a Roanoke in the 47-game series with Virginia Wesleyan and the lowest since the Maroons defeated Averett College 38-35 during the 1978-79 season.
"We didn't play exceptionally well overall, but we did execute defensively and had a good game on the boards," said VWC head coach David Macedo. "We still have a lot of things to work on."
The 41 points allowed was the best defensive effort in a road game in history for Virginia Wesleyan, and the tied the fourth lowest total allowed overall. The last time VWC held an opponent to less than 50 points on the road was January 8, 1980, when the Marlins won 85-47 at North Carolina Wesleyan College.
Roanoke (6-1, 1-1) had only one less field goal than Virginia Wesleyan (3-3, 1-1) in the first half, but connected on only 3-of-23 attempts in the second half. While the Maroons hitting only 13 percent from the field, the Marlins found the offense for 20 minutes, hitting 15-of-28 field goal attempts to pull away.
The effort on the backboards helped the pull-away as the Marlins finished the game with a decisive 50-27 advantage in rebounds. The 50 caroms tied the eighth highest total in VWC history and represented the third highest road total ever for the Marlins. Sophomore Tyler Fantin (Virginia Beach, Va./Floyd E. Kellam) pulled down a career-high 13 rebounds, nine off the defensive glass, and junior Brandon Adair (Virginia Beach, Va./Princess Anne) yanked in 12, all off the defensive glass.
Adair recorded his first double-double of the season, and his 12th overall, as he also led all scoring with 16 points, hitting 8-of-14 field goal attempts. While he was the only scorer in double digits for VWC, Jared Butler was the only double-digit scorer for Roanoke, netting 10 points.
It was Butler who scored the first basket of the game, giving the Maroons the lead for the first and last time in the competition. Sophomore TonTon Balenga (Newport News, Va./Warwick) came through with a triple to make it 3-2 lead for the Marlins, who outscored Roanoke 15-4 in a span of nine minutes to open up an 18-6 advantage. Seven different Marlins scored in the surge, which included a triple from senior Marques Fitch (Virginia Beach, Va./Floyd E. Kellam).
Roanoke did not let things get out of hand at that point however, as the Maroons responded with a 14-4 run that cut the Virginia Wesleyan lead to 22-20 with 2:18 remaining in the half. Tee Jackson led the Maroon run with six points and Keith Carter added five.
Virginia Wesleyan held on for a 26-23 lead at the break and created more breathing room in the early minutes of the second half as scoring by junior Thomas Sumpter (Hampton, Va./Bethel), sophomore Ari' Paschal (Virginia Beach, Va./Hebron, Maine) and Adair pushed the Marlins out to a 33-23 advantage in the first four minutes.
Butler scored five consecutive points to cut the spread in half for Roanoke, only to see Virginia Wesleyan ignite again, this time for a run that virtually decided the game. Adair and Balenga teamed twice to spark the run, as Adair scored on a layup off an assist from Balenga and then came through with a rousing dunk following a steal by Balenga. The Marlins went on to outscore Roanoke 16-2 to open up a 49-30 lead with 9:29 remaining in the game. Adair finished with six points in the run, while junior Rodney Young (Chesapeake, Va./Norfolk Norview) added four points.
Roanoke never got closer than 12 points the rest of the way, hitting only 2-of-11 field goal attempts in the final nine minutes. The Maroons did score at the free throw line however, hitting 6-of-10 attempts in the same span.
