THE GAME FACTS
Score: Roanoke 85, Stockton 74
Location: Chester, Pa.

The Short Story:  Justin Kuthan scored a career-high 32 points to help lead the Roanoke men's basketball team to a season-opening win over Stockton 85-74 at the Widener Tip-Off Tournament on Friday evening in Chester, Pa.

HOW IT HAPPENED

• Kuthan scored on the opening possession for the Maroons before the Ospreys went on an 11-2 run to pull ahead by seven with just under 16:00 minutes left in the first half. The Maroons pulled within four at 15:28 on a Zach Rosenthal three-pointer with Stockton answering by putting their lead back up to seven at 18-11 at 12:57 remaining in the opening period. 
• The Ospreys would keep their lead between four to six points until a bucket and made free throw by Kuthan cut the lead down to three with at 8:38. 30 seconds later Kuthan brought it down to one on another layup. 
• Stockton would answer with a run that put them back ahead by eight, their biggest lead of the game at 35-27 with under five minutes in the first half. A 5-0 and 6-0 run saw the Maroons retake the lead at 37-36. The Maroons would lead 39-38 at the break.
• The Ospreys would briefly regain the lead on the opening basket of the second half, but would not keep it for long nor retake it. The score would be tied only one more time the rest of the game at 46-46 with 15:50 remaining. An 11-2 run by Roanoke, capped by a basket and made free throw by Rosenthal saw the Maroons' lead extend to nine at 57-48 with 13:33 left. 
• With 8:39 remaining Stockton cut the lead down to one, but Roanoke pushed it back up to a 13 point lead with 3:22 left. The Maroons would extend their lead up to 15 with less than a minute left before settling in for the 85-74 win over the Ospreys.

BY THE NUMBERS

• Kuthan's 32 points broke his previous career-high of 22 that was set on Dec. 1, 2022 against Bridgewater. He also went 11 for 15 from the free-throw line. 
• Rosenthal (17), Marcus Morgan (12), Joshua McClary (11) also reached double-figure points.
• Kuthan also had the game-high nine rebounds while McClary had seven.

UP NEXT

• Roanoke will take on host Widener in the championship game of the tournament on Saturday at 4 p.m.