A tight first half got away from the EMU Runnin Royals in an 80-57 road loss to Washington and Lee Wednesday night.
The defeat leaves the EMU basketball men still searching for a needed win in their quest to qualify for the 10-team ODAC Tournament. The Royals remain in a four-way tie for 10th place heading into the final day of the regular season this Saturday.
Eastern Mennonite sits tied with Shenandoah, Randolph and Emory & Henry, one game behind Bridgewater. Emory & Henry hosts SU on Saturday, meaning one of those two will move out of the logjam. The Runnin Royals play at Virginia Wesleyan, ranked No. 18 in the nation, while Randolph is at Roanoke. All of Saturday’s games start at 2:00pm.
In the first half against third place Washington and Lee on Wednesday, the Royals went back-and-forth with the Generals. Jamel Howard (Leesburg, Va./Tuscarora) gave EMU a 24-19 lead with a layup at the 6:58 mark, but outside of that neither team led by more than three points.
A three pointer from Michael Williams (Richmond, Va./Varina) put the men in front 29-27 late, but the Generals scored the final four to hold a 31-29 edge at halftime.
Everything changed in the second half.
EMU’s first four possessions resulted in turnovers and Washington and Lee pushed to a 38-29 margin. Tie Evans (Henrico, Va./Steward School) sank a free throw for the men’s first point at the 16:46 mark and a triple from Howard got them within 41-35. But another cold spell turned into an 11-0 streak for the Generals as they blew open 52-35 lead.
The Royals never recovered from there, as W&L owned the second half, 49-28.
The Generals simply out-shot the men, 51% to 29%.
DJ Hill (Woodbridge, Va./Hylton) finished with 14 points and nine rebounds for the Royals, who grabbed 16 offensive boards. Evans came in with 11 points, four assists and four steals. Leading scorer Tim Jones (Forestville, Md./Central) had an off night from the floor, with his nine points just his third single digit scoring total of the season. Howard scored seven.
Chris Simmons (Culpeper, Va./Culpeper County) had another solid effort of the bench with seven points and seven rebounds. Kobi Alexander (Madison, Va./Madison County) added six points and five boards.
Robert DiSibio scored 11 points as Washington and Lee had eight players score between seven and 11 points. Matt Lamendola had eight points, four steals and three assists.
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