SALEM, VA--The Roanoke College men's basketball team brought to an end a long losing streak against the Tigers of Hampden-Sydney College, winning a Monday night conference matchup 84-75. The Maroons, who last beat the Tigers on February 5, 2001 and had suffered nine consecutive losses to HSC, improve to 14-8 overall on the season and 8-7 in the Old Dominion Athletic Conference. The Tigers, who had an eight-game winning streak snapped with the loss, fall to 14-8 overall and 9-6 in conference action.
Roanoke scoring streaks with less than 10 minutes to play in each half proved to be the difference in the contest. In the first half, the Tigers took a 16-15 lead on an AJ Dowell jumper. Roanoke then went on a 15-2 run that gave them a 30-18 lead with 5:51 left in the opening 20 minutes. Freshman
Ben Shrader (Tazewell, VA/Mercer Christian Academy) got the run going with a three-pointer to give RC a two-point edge. Hampden-Sydney Drew Prehmus answered with a jumper, but the Maroons then scored the next 10 points. Robbie Winfield (Athens, TN/McMinn Co.) and
Jared Butler (Springfield, VA/West Springfield) hit back-to-back threes midway through the run to give RC an eight-point lead. Butler capped the run with two foul shots to give the Maroons their 12-point advantage.
AJ Dowell converted a three-point play and then knocked down a jumper to trim the lead to seven points, but a
Curtis Killen (Glen Alpine, N/Freedom) layup and a Butler jumper pushed the edge back to 11. The Tigers were again able to get the lead into single digits, 34-25, on a Tyler Murray layup with 2:19 left, but the Maroons scored six of the final eight points of the half to take a 40-27 lead at the break.
The Tigers came storming back in the opening moments of the second half to even things up at 43. Hampden-Sydney drilled its first six shots from the field and also got two free throws to draw even at 43. Prehmus opened the half with a three-pointer just seven seconds in and then got a second three a minute later. On the second of the two threes, Prehmus was fouled. He made the foul shot to complete the four-point play. That brought HSC to within 43-36. An RC turnover and a Mike Edwards layup made the score 43-38 just 12 seconds later. Prehmus scored again and Edwards finished a three-point play to make the score 43-43 with 17:07 remaining in the game.
Following the Edwards free throw, Winfield hit a three-pointer for the Maroons, giving them a 46-43 lead, a lead they would not give up. With the Maroon lead hovering around four points over the next six minutes, the Tigers drew within two, 53-51, on another Prehmus score with 11:04 left. Roanoke freshman
Josh LaPorte (Staunton, VA/Riverheads) hit a jumper from the elbow and
Tee Jackson (Galax, VA/Carroll Co.) hit a three from the win to give Roanoke a seven-point lead, 58-51 with 9:01 left.
Holding on to a 61-55 lead with 7:16 on the clock, Roanoke's game turned into the
Jared Butler show. Butler scored the next 12 Roanoke points. He hit two three-pointers in that stretch and with the second gave the Maroons a 13-point lead, 72-59, with 5:10 to go. Again, Prehmus answered for the visitors, hitting his third three of the game to make the HSC deficit 10, 72-62. With 3:54 left in the game, Prehmus nailed two free throws to cut the Maroon lead to single-digits, 73-64. LaPorte made two foul shots of his own to make the score 75-64 and moments later Roanoke freshman
Keith Carter (Roanoke, VA/Northside) hit a three from the corner to give the Maroons their largest lead of the game, 14 points, 78-64.
But for the third time in the span of three minutes Prehmus had an answer. Eight seconds after the Carter shot, the HSC freshman made his fourth three of the game and the Tigers trailed by 11, 78-67, with 2:58 left. The Maroons scored their final six points from the free throw line to hold off the Tigers. Kevin Forrester made a layup with two ticks left to make the final 84-75.
The Maroons got a season-high 22 points from Butler, who was one of six Maroon players in double-figures. Winfield scored a career-high 16 points for RC and at the half had scored 10, his previous career scoring-best. Carter came off the bench to score 10 points and add three assists. The Maroons made just 14 of their 26 free throws, missing eight in the final 4:59.
Prehmus finished the game with 27 points for the Tigers, scoring 23 of his team's 48 seconds half points. He missed just three shots in the game, just two in the second half. Dowell was the only other Tiger in double-figures, scoring 11, nine coming in the first 20 minutes of play.
Roanoke is at Bridgewater College at 7:00pm on Wednesday night.
Roanoke vs. Hampden-Sydney Box Score
