LEXINGTON, Va. — First-year forward Clayton Murtha (Dallas, Texas/Highland Park) scored a career-high 29 points and grabbed a career-best 10 rebounds to lead the Washington and Lee men's basketball team to an 83-72 victory over Randolph on Wednesday at the Warner Center. It marked the first double-double of Murtha's career.

The WildCats (11-9, 5-6 ODAC) jumped out to 13-point (25-12) lead eight minutes into the game, and led by 10, 28-18, with 8:41 left in the half. A layup by Murtha at the 7:25 mark started a 15-1 run, which turned a 10-point deficit into a four-point (33-29) lead for the Generals (8-12, 5-6 ODAC) with 2:25 remaining until intermission. Randolph trimmed one point off the advantage, but W&L took a 37-34 lead into the break.

The teams traded baskets through the first six minutes of the second half, but an old-fashioned three-point play by Murtha and a three-pointer by junior guard Darren Douglas (Elmsford, N.Y./Rye Country Day) extended the Blue and White advantage to nine (54-45) with 13:31 remaining in the game.

A layup by sophomore point guard Andy Kleinlein (Chesterfield, Mo./Chaminade College Prep) on the Generals' next possession pushed the lead to double digits, 56-45. W&L's advantage remained around 10 over the next 11 minutes, but a 7-0 run by the WildCats trimmed the margin to five (75-70) with 1:09 on the clock.

A fast-break layup by Douglas gave the Generals a seven-point, 77-70, edge with 1:05 remaining, and W&L converted all of its free throws down the stretch to reach the final score.

Murtha finished the night 11-of-21 from the floor and 7-of-7 from the charity stripe to reach his 29 points. His previous career-high was 25, which he had done two times. Murtha was one of five Generals in double figures. Senior forward Patrick O'Connor (Richmond, Va./Douglas Freeman) netted 13 points and Kleinlein and sophomore guard Stephen Himmelberg (Chapel Hill, N.C./Chapel Hill) each had 11.

Douglas scored 10 points, shooting a perfect 4-of-4 from the field. On the defensive side, first-year forward Joe Sherwood (Madison, N.J./Seton Hall Prep) notched three blocks and three steals, while grabbing six rebounds.

Junior guard Zach Desgain (Richmond, Va./J.R. Tucker) led Randolph with 21 points, while junior forward Jason Eddie (Charlotte, N.C./Davidson Day School) scored 14.

W&L shot 50.0 percent (29-of-58) from the field, 50.0 percent (7-of-14) from beyond the arc and a perfect 18-of-18 (100.0 percent) from the foul line. The Generals were one made free throw away from tying the team record for free throw percentage in a single game. On February 19, 2000, W&L went 19-of-19 from the stripe in a game against Bridgewater.

The Wildcats finished 23-of-49 (46.9 percent) from the floor, 7-of-14 (50.0 percent) from long distance and 19-of-24 (79.2 percent) from the foul line.

The Generals return to action on Saturday, when they host fifth-ranked Randolph-Macon at 2:00 pm.

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