SALEM, VA--The Roanoke College men's basketball team couldn't contain visiting Emory and Henry 's frenetic style of play on Tuesday evening, and the Maroons fell to the Wasps in the final regular-season game for both teams, 115-101. Senior Jared Butler led Roanoke with 19 points as the Maroons ended conference play with an 8-10 record, good for sixth in the Old Dominion Athletic Conference. E&H finished 10-8, fifth in the ODAC.
The Wasps fired up 35 three-point attempts in the first half, making 13, while the Maroons responded by going 18-for-32 from the field, including 7-for-10 from beyond the three-point arc. With 8:01 left in the first half, Roanoke led by nine points, their largest lead of the game, but E & H outscored the Maroons 27-8 over the next five minutes and went into the break up 57-48.
The three-point barrage continued in the second half, as E & H shot another 25 treys, this time sinking 10 of them. Two made free throws by Antonio Leary at 17:11 put the Wasps up by 17, their largest lead of the evening; Roanoke then went on an 18-4 run to cut it to three points with 12:46 remaining, but it was as close as the Maroons would get. E & H responded by building their lead back up to around ten points, where it would stay for most of the rest of the game.
Roanoke was hampered by 22 turnovers to the Wasps' 11, but the Maroons outrebounded E & H 50-46. The Wasps also had 15 steals to Roanoke's 5. Butler, freshman Curtis Peery, sophomore Ben Shrader, sophomore Keith Carter and junior Ben Lawler all scored in double figures for the Maroons. Six different E & H players scored in double figures, while fourteen Wasps saw more than ten minutes of action in the game.
It was Roanoke's second loss of the season to E & H; on February 1, the Maroons fell 103-100 in Emory. The Maroons are now 85-5 all-time in games in which they score over 100 points, and 2-39 in games in which they allow over 100 points. Before the February 1 game against the Wasps, Roanoke had not lost a 100-point game since the 1974-75 season, when they were defeated by Old Dominion 101-100.
The ODAC tournament starts on Saturday in Salem; sixth-seeded Roanoke will face #3 Hampden-Sydney at 8 p.m., while #5 E&H plays #4 Guilford at 3 p.m.
