The Game Facts:
Score: No. 18 Roanoke 88, No. 25 Rhodes 84
Location: Atlanta, Ga. – Woodruff PE Center Arena

The Short story:  The Roanoke College men's basketball team finished strong Friday to defeat Rhodes College (Tenn.) 88-84 in the first round of the NCAA Division III Tournament, hosted by Emory University.

Roanoke trailed 73-69 with just over five minutes left to play, but hit several big shots mixed with key defensive stops to rally for the victory at Emory University.

How it happened:  
*The Lynx shot the ball well early, opening a 14-7 lead. The Maroon offense got hot with a 10-4 run to cut the lead to 18-17 with 12:07 left.
*A 19-9 surge put the Maroons ahead 36-27 and RC took a 45-41 lead into halftime.
*Rhodes tied the game at 57-all at the media timeout with 12 minutes left. The Linx forged a small lead but neither team could pull away.
*A Patrick Clevenger three pointer from the corner put RC ahead 80-75 with just 1:41 remaining. Jackson Bell nailed another deep ball, his fifth of the game, to give the Maroons an 85-79 lead with 35.4 seconds left.
*Roanoke iced the game from the free-throw line, and sunk 13 of its last 14 attempts from the charity stripe.



Inside the numbers:
*Bell, from neighboring Roswell, Ga., scored a game-high 28 points.
*Marcus Morgan posted 14 points and seven rebounds.
*Clevenger finished with 10 points, five rebounds and three assists.
*Ryan Truitt compiled nine points and five assists and Gavin O'Malley had six points and eight rebounds.
*Phil Dotson scored 27 for the Linx, who finish the season 23-5.

Next time:
The Maroons, ranked No. 18 in this week's D3hoops.com Top 25 poll, are 23-6 on the season. RC moves on in the NCAA Tournament to face the host Emory University, ranked No. 2 in the nation, Saturday at 7:15 p.m.