LEXINGTON, Va. -- W&L shot a season-high 59.5 percent from the floor, including 78.9 percent in the second half, but it wouldn't be enough, as Randolph-Macon escaped from the Warner Center with a 59-54 win over W&L in ODAC men's basketball on Saturday aft ernoon.
Randolph-Macon (10-3, 5-2) led by seven points (28-21) at the half, and extended its lead to as many as 15 points (43-28) with 12:58 remaining in the game. However, the Generals (3-10, 2-6) went on a 15-0 run from that point capped by a lay-up and subseq uent free throw from sophomore guard Chad Braley (Huntington, W.Va./Paul Blazer) to knot the score at 43-43.
The game would remain nip-and-tuck for the duration as W&L would take leads of 50-48 with 3:55 remaining and 54-53 with 1:48 left. With the score at 54-53 in favor of the Generals, R-MC senior forward Matt Meehan (Ramstein, Germany/Ramstein American) hit a short jumper to make the score 55-54 and the Yellow Jackets would not trail again.
Following a W&L turnover and a missed shot by Macon, the Generals had the ball with a chance to take the lead with 21 seconds remaining, but Braley's attempted entry pass to junior center Rich Peterson (Trumbull, Conn./Trumbull) went out of bounds, giving R-MC the ball.
With just three team fouls for the half, W&L was forced to foul multiple times in order to send a Randolph-Macon player to the line and sophomore forward Will Ballard (Elkin, N.C./Elkin) was whistled for an intentional foul giving R-MC a pair of free thro ws and the ball. Senior forward Brian Pirttima (Ocala, Fla./Forest) promptly stepped to the line and knocked down both free throws, the Yellow Jackets' first free throws of the game.
The Generals then fouled Meehan, who hit both charity tosses to produce the final score of 59-54.
W&L was led by Braley, who scored 20 points on 8-of-13 shooting and Peterson, who tallied 12 points.
Randolph-Macon was led by Pirttima and junior guard Mike LaGuardia (Hammonton, N.J./Hammonton), who both scored 15 points.
W&L will be in action again on Mon., Jan. 18, when it travels to St. Mary's City, Md., for a non-conference game with St. Mary's (Md.). Tip time is set for 7:00 pm.
-- GENERALS --
