LEXINGTON, Va. -- The Washington and Lee men's basketball team earned its first win of the season with a 79-65 victory over Piedmont in the opening round of the W&L Tournament on Sunday evening at the Warner Center. In the opening game, Washington College defeated Marymount, 81-79, in overtime.
The Generals used a 13-0 run early in the game to assume a commanding 40-25 lead at the break. The lead grew to as many as 22 points (51-29) with 15:04 remaining in the game as the Generals won going away.
W&L (1-9) shot a season-high 53.4 percent from the floor and held a 44-28 advantage on the boards. Freshman forward Greg Bienemann (Chatham, N.J./Chatham) led the way with a career-high 27 points on 10-of-14 shooting from the floor. He also grabbed seven rebounds and dished off three assists. Freshman forward Femi Kusimo (Charleston, W.Va./Charleston Catholic) posted 11 points and seven rebounds, while sophomore guard Chris Halkitis (New Port Richey, Fla./Ridgewood) chipped in 11 points, seven rebounds, five steals and three assists.
Piedmont (4-6) shot just 36.8 percent from the field, including 16.0 percent (4-of-25) from three-point range. The Lions were led by freshman forwards Jake Baldwin (Cumming, Ga./South Forsyth) and Trey Hightower (McDonough, Ga./Clayton State), who notched 13 points each.
In the opener, Washington recovered from an eight-point halftime deficit to record the win. The Shoremen used several small spurts to go up by as many as seven points (63-56) with 6:05 remaining, but the Saints climbed back on top until WAC sophomore forward Joe Breslin (Hagerstown, Md./Saint Maria Goretti) hit 1-of-2 free throws with two second left to send the game into overtime. The Shoremen then claimed control in the extra session for the win.
Washington (4-4) was led by Breslin, who tallied 18 points and 12 rebounds. Senior guard John Alexander (Mt. Airy, Md./Linganore) and junior guard Dustin Abbate (Oyster Bay, N.Y./Oyster Bay) added 13 points each.
Marymount (6-4) was paced by senior forward Ed Carrai (Newville, Pa./Big Spring) with 20 points and 12 rebounds. Junior guard Rick Palmer (Gaithersburg, Md./Magruder) scored 16 points and grabbed seven rebounds.
Marymount and Piedmont will meet in Monday's consolation game at 6:00 pm, while the Generals and Shoremen will meet in the championship game at 8:00 pm.
-- GENERALS --
