EMU stopped by W&L in Lexington

Host Washington and Lee shot their way past the EMU basketball men Wednesday, sending the Royals home with a 94-66 loss.

EMU slides to 9-13 with their fifth straight defeat. They haven’t won since an impressive 68-66 win at Virginia Wesleyan on Jan. 16. The Runnin Royals are clinging to a tie for 10th in the ODAC standings, locked with Ferrum at 4-9. Only the top 10 teams will make the ODAC Tournament this year. The men do hold a head-to-head tiebreaker over the Panthers.

The Runnin Royals stay on the road this Saturday afternoon, playing at Hampden-Sydney (4-16/1-12 ODAC).

Washington and Lee skipped to a 6-0 lead in Wednesday’s game, aided by three EMU turnovers.

The men got back to within two points on a handful of occasions, the final time after a jumper from Travis Clower (Romney, W.V./Hampshire) made it 15-13 at the 14:11 mark. W&L answered with a quick 6-0 jab to regain control, however, and led 26-15 less than four minutes later. They were up 49-33 at halftime.

Eastern Mennonite made a little noise in the second half, using their defense to trigger an 8-0 run. They were within 55-41 with 12 minutes to play but would get no closer.

William Brueggeman drilled back-to-back threes to land the knockout punch, quickly opening the margin to 23 with four minutes remaining. The Generals rolled from there to the 94-66 final.

Washington and Lee simply out-shot the Royals, 52% to 44%. Brueggeman was the difference maker, hitting 5-of-9 threes to finish with a game high 28 points. Roy McMillan and Devin Kearns had nearly identical stat lines and combined to provide 30 points, 11 rebounds and 10 assists.

Sammy Thomas (Owings, Md./Northern) led the way for EMU, shooting 6-for-9 from the floor to finish with 15 points and five rebounds. Clower and Jamel Howard (Leesburg, Va./Tuscarora) each scored eight points, while Clower added three steals and three assists.

DJ Hill (Woodbridge, Va./Hylton) put in eight off the bench. Tim Jones (Forestville, Md./Central) was limited to seven points, but had a team high six rebounds.