Despite an overtime game that last time the two teams met, Wednesday’s contest in Bridgewater was surprisingly one-sided. Eastern Mennonite’s men scored the first seven points and ran away with an 80-63 win over their rivals on the road.
The crucial win pushes the Runnin Royals to 5-8 in the ODAC in a tie with BC for eighth place. The two also sit just one game behind three times tied for fifth at 6-7. The men host one of those teams, Randolph, this Saturday in Harrisonburg. When the two met in Lynchburg in late November, the young Royals earned a clutch 83-78 win in overtime.
While EMU’s men are not mathematically eliminated from finishing in fourth to earn a first round bye in the ODAC Tournament, a more likely goal is to host a first round game. They would need to finish at least eighth in the conference to secure that.
Wednesday’s win helped that cause.
The Runnin Royals held BC without a point for the first 3:36 of the game the 7-0 start. The bench took over from there. Xavier McCants (Olney, Md./Sherwood) hit a triple to bump the edge to 15-6 at the 13:27 mark.
Bridgewater got within four points twice, but EMU ended the half on an 18-8 run to lead 43-29.
Eastern Mennonite forced 12 turnovers over the first 20 minutes, earning a 15-5 advantage in points off turnovers. The bench scored 25 points, led by eight each from Sammy Thomas (Owings, Md./Northern) and Khalil Davis (Harrisonburg, Va./Spotswood).
The Eagles never got closer than 13 in the second half. The biggest question came from EMU’s lack of depth inside. Thomas missed the second with an injury, while Christian Hansen (Manassas Park, Va./Osbourn Park) and Tariq Caldwell(Richmond, Va./Lee-Davis) got in foul trouble.
Caldwell ended up fouling out, but Isaiah Harris-Winn (Frederick, Md./St. Maria Goretti) drilled a trio of triples during an 11-0 run, ballooning the cushion to 69-44 with 8:52 remaining. The big shots from the reigning ODAC Player of the Week effectively ended the drama for the game.
The men were actually out-shot 52% to 44%. The Royals grabbed 11 offensive rebounds and had a +10 turnover margin to make the difference. They also assisted on 21 of their 28 made field goals.
Harris-Winn hit 5-of-11 three pointers and led Eastern Mennonite with 19 points and five rebounds. Jerome Jones (Charles Town, W.V./Washington) scored 13 points and had two blocks. Davis added a trio of long balls and put in 11 counters. Thomas finished with eight points and six rebounds in just seven minutes in the first half.
McCants dished out a career best six assists. Maleke Jones (Charles Town, W.V./Washington) added five handouts.
Efe Balfour paced the Eagles with 23 points and nine rebounds. Keonte Davis had 15 and eight. BC hurt themselves by shooting just 11-24 from the free throw line.
Saturday’s game with Randolph College starts at 3:00pm in Yoder Arena.
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