Hoping to end the regular season on a high note, EMU instead suffered a frustrating defeat at home on Saturday, falling 83-78 to Guilford.
The loss left the Runnin Royals (11-13/6-10 ODAC) with the No. 10 seed in next week’s ODAC Tournament, giving the men a road game at No. 7 Randolph-Macon in the First Round on Tuesday. The winner of that game heads to Salem to play No. 2 Virginia Wesleyan on Friday in the quarterfinals.
EMU split their two regular season meetings with Randolph-Macon, with each team winning on their home court.
Click here to see the official ODAC Tournament website.
By all accounts, Saturday’s game with the fourth-place Quakers (16-9/11-5 ODAC) was a great contest with a dud for an ending. The opening minutes were tight until the Runnin Royals released their air raid with back-to-back-to-back threes to open up a 26-16 margin.
Guilford wasted no time in responding, using a 14-3 run to flip back into the lead at 30-29. Christian Hansen (Manassas Park, Va./Osbourn Park) hit a triple at the buzzer to end the half, but GC held a 41-38 lead.
The visitors built a seven-point edge early in the second, before the teams again traded leads. The Quakers were up 75-69 with 5:17 to go, but EMU triggered a 6-0 run to tie up the score with 4:01 showing.
Neither team scored for almost two minutes until GC snuck back in front with a layup. The Royals then turned the ball over to set up a game-changing play. With the Quakers clinging to a two-point lead they inbounded under EMU’s hoop. The ball was tossed in to a cutting Dominique Henderson, who seemed to lose his footing as he tried to stop, sending him to the floor. The Royals thought they had forced a key turnover and earned a chance to tie, but instead a foul was called and Henderson hit both free throws for a 79-75 margin.
Jerome Jones (Charles Town, W.V./Washington) missed a triple with 1:27 left, and Guilford got two more tosses for a six-point lead. The men couldn’t hit a shot at that point, as the Quakers bumped their lead to 83-75 before Jerome Jones nailed a triple for the final scoring.
In a game full of 14 lead changes and five ties, offensive boards killed EMU’s chances. The men gave up 16 to Guilford while only grabbing four of their own. Eastern Mennonite shot 50.9% for the game, including 15-32 from long range. They tied their season high for made three pointers with the tital. The Quakers shot 45.5% and 8-20 from outside.
Isaiah Harris-Winn (Frederick, Md./St. Maria Goretti) put in four triples and led all players with 18 points. Maleke Jones(Charles Town, W.V./Washington) added 12 points and six assists. Hansen finished with 11 while Xavier McCants (Olney, Md./Sherwood) added 10 and three steals. Sammy Thomas (Owings, Md./Northern) grabbed six rebounds.
Will Freeman led five Quakers in double figures with 14 points and seven boards. Henderson and Trevor Hyatt each scored 13 while Zachary Houston had seven assists and six rebounds.
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