LEXINGTON, Va. — The Washington and Lee men's basketball team forced senior wing Marcel Crump (Richmond, Va./Highland Springs) to miss a running jump shot as time expired to earn a 76-75 victory over Eastern Mennonite on Wednesday at the Warner Center.

Senior forward Patrick O'Connor (Richmond, Va./Douglas Freeman) nailed a three-pointer with one minute left in the contest to give W&L (6-10, 3-4 ODAC) a four-point lead, 74-70. It gave O'Connor a career-high 19 points on 7-of-15 from the floor.

After a defensive stop for the Generals, junior forward Andrew Franz (Charlotte, N.C./Ravenscroft) was fouled with 37 seconds remaining, but missed the front end of an one-and-one. Senior guard James Williams (Capitol Heights, Md./Archbishop Carroll) cut the lead to two (74-72) by hitting a jumper with 33 ticks on the clock.

Sophomore guard Stephen Himmelberg (Chapel Hill, N.C./Chapel Hill) was fouled and split a pair of free throws with 32 seconds left in the contest, and then senior wing Ryan Yates (Alexandria, Va./T.C. Williams) tied the game with a triple with 17 seconds remaining.

Sophomore guard Andy Kleinlein (Chesterfield, Mo./Chaminade College Prep) brought the ball down the court, and was fouled shooting a layup with five seconds on the clock. The struggle at the line continued for the Blue and White, as Kleinlein split the pair to give W&L a 76-75 lead. After a timeout by each team, the Royals (11-5, 4-3 ODAC) pushed the ball up the court, but Crump's shot fell short to end the contest.

First-year forward Clayton Murtha (Dallas, Texas/Highland Park) notched a career-high for the second straight game with 25 points on 9-of-16 from the field. He also connected on 7-of-8 free throws and had seven rebounds and four assists. Murtha tallied 23 points in the Generals' most recent game at Lynchburg on Saturday.

Franz stuffed the stat sheet for W&L with four points, eight rebounds, four assists, four steals and one block. The Generals finished 28-of-60 (46.7 percent) from the field and 15-of-22 (68.2 percent) from the charity stripe.

EMU had three players in double figures, led by 18 from Williams on 7-of-8 from the floor. Yates added 14 points, and Crump totaled 11 points with six turnovers. The Royals shot 48.2 percent (27-of-56) from the field and 63.0 percent (17-of-27) from the foul line.

The Generals fell behind 13 points, 19-6, with 13 minutes left in the first half, and trailed by 12 (31-19) with 7:17 before intermission. From there, W&L went on a 26-15 run in the final seven minutes to trim the lead to one, 46-45, at halftime. Neither team led by more than four points in the second half.

W&L heads out on the road on Saturday, when it travels to Guilford for a 3:00 pm contest.

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