VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. — The Washington and Lee men's basketball team committed 20 turnovers, as it lost 73-60 at eighth-ranked Virginia Wesleyan on Saturday at the Batten Center.

The Generals (4-9, 1-3 ODAC) fell behind 7-1 in the first two minutes with the Marlins' (11-2, 3-1 ODAC) Cam Owens netting five of the points. W&L responded by scoring nine of the next 13 to trim the deficit to one (11-10) with 12:33 left in the half.

VWC pushed the lead back to six, 18-12, but back-to-back jumpers by first-year forward Joe Sherwood (Madison, N.J./Seton Hall Prep) and junior forward John Martin (Huntsville, Ala./Randolph) brought the Blue and White within two, 18-16, with just under 10 minutes until intermission. In the final 9:51 of the first half, the Marlins outscored W&L, 17-10, to take an 11-point lead (35-26) into the break.

The Blue and White went on a 5-0 run early in the second stanza to close the gap to eight, 41-33, with 15:39 left in the contest. A jumper by sophomore forward Kaelin Poe ignited a Marlins' 13-4 run, which stretched the advantage to 17 (54-37) with 11:41 left in the game. The lead eventually swelled to 20 points, 63-43, before reaching the final margin of 13.

Along with the Generals' 20 turnovers, VWC grabbed 12 offensive rebounds, which led to the Marlins taking 28 more shots than W&L. The Blue and White converted on 50.0 percent (19-of-38) of its shots from the floor and 72.0 percent (18-of-25) of its attempts from the foul line.

VWC shot 27-of-66 (40.9 percent) from the field, 7-of-21 (33.3 percent) from beyond the arc and 12-of-25 (48.0 percent) from the charity stripe.

The Generals had four players in double figures led by first-year forward Clayton Murtha (Dallas, Texas/Highland Park) with 13 points. He also grabbed five rebounds and had three assists. Junior forward Andrew Franz (Charlotte, N.C./Ravenscroft), sophomore guard Andy Kleinlein (Chesterfield, Mo./Chaminade College Prep) and Sherwood each netted 10 points.    

Owens led the Marlins with 14 points and four rebounds. Sophomore guard Khory Moore recorded 13 points, but finished only 4-of-16 from the field. Senior guard Greg Montgomery totaled just five points, but also had eight rebounds, four assists and three steals.

W&L returns to the court on Wednesday when it hosts Roanoke for a 7:00 pm contest.

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