SALEM, Va. — First-year forward Clayton Murtha (Dallas, Texas/Highland Park) scored 24 points to lead the Washington and Lee men's basketball team to a 72-64 victory at Roanoke on Wednesday.

The Generals (9-15, 6-9 ODAC) jumped out to a 21-10 lead in the opening 10 minutes of the game, but the Maroons (10-14, 5-10 ODAC) closed the half on a 19-8 run to even the score at 29-29 at intermission.

The two teams were tied, 36-36, with 18:29 left in the second half, but over the next 10 minutes, W&L went on an 18-8 run to take a 54-44 lead at the 8:13 mark. During the spurt, sophomore guard Andy Kleinlein (Chesterfield, Mo./Chaminade College Prep) hit two triples, and junior guard Darren Douglas (Elmsford, N.Y./Rye Country Day) notched five points.

The Maroons closed the gap to five (60-55) on a layup by senior forward Daniel Eacho with 5:32 left in the game. W&L responded with four free throws by Murtha and a layup by Kleinlein sandwiched around an old-fashioned three-point play by Roanoke's junior guard Carter Wright to stretch the advantage back to eight, 66-58, with 4:29 on the clock. The teams traded baskets the last four minutes to reach the final margin.

Murtha finished the game a perfect 14-of-14 from the charity stripe, as the Generals went 24-of-26 (92.3 percent) as a team. Murtha is now 144-of-187 (77.0 percent) from the line on the season, which marks the 10th-most made free throws in a single season by a W&L player.

Along with Murtha, Kleinlein netted 15 points, and Douglas added 12. Junior forward Andrew Franz (Charlotte, N.C./Ravenscroft) totaled six rebounds, three assists, two steals and three points, while senior forward Patrick O'Connor (Richmond, Va./Douglas Freeman) recorded nine points and six rebounds off the bench.

Senior guard Julian Ramirez led the Maroons with 15 points on 7-of-12 from the field. Wright had 14 points and Eacho added 13.

The Generals play their final regular season game on Saturday at Randolph at 4:00 pm.

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