LEXINGTON, Va. — The Washington and Lee men's basketball team scored 58 points in the second half en route to a 97-83 victory over Roanoke on Saturday at the Warner Center.

Junior forward Clayton Murtha (Dallas, Texas/Highland Park) led four Generals (9-14, 5-9 ODAC) in double figures. He finished with a game-high 29 points and 12 rebounds for his 11th double-double of the season. He connected on 12-of-14 shots from the floor. 

The Maroons (12-10, 7-7 ODAC) held a one-point lead (40-39) at halftime, but W&L quickly erased the deficit by scoring 15 of the first 19 points in the second stanza. Sophomore guard Devin Kearns (Cibolo, Texas/Samuel Clemens) started the run with a layup. Sophomore forward Roy McMillan (Raleigh, N.C./Broughton) converted a driving layup, and then he answered a Roanoke made jumper by draining three free throws to give the Blue and White a 46-42 lead with 18:30 left in the half.

Following a layup for the Maroons by junior forward Joey Miller, junior forward Nicholas George (Charleston, W. Va./Charleston Catholic) and senior guard Andy Kleinlein (Chesterfield, Mo./Chaminade College Prep) drained back-to-back triples to push the W&L lead up to 52-44 at the 17:36 mark. George then capped the run on a layup to extend the margin to double-digits (54-44) with 16 minutes remaining in the contest.

Roanoke responded over the next two mintes with six straight points to trim the deficit to four, 54-50, but George canned a three-pointer on the Generals' next possession to push the advantage back to seven (57-50).

The teams exchanged baskets over the next two minutes with W&L leading 59-52 at the 12:54 mark. Off a missed triple by Kearns, junior guard Michael Hegar (Cary, N.C./GRACE Christian) tipped in the rebound to stretch the lead to 61-52 with 12:35 remaining on the clock. On W&L's next offensive trip, George made his fifth three-pointer of the game to give the Blue and White a 12-point lead (64-52).

The margin was still at 12 (70-58) a minute and half later, but McMillan drained back-to-back three-pointers from the top of the key off of assists from Kearns to put the game away with 9:19 left on the clock. The closest the Maroons would get in the final nine minutes was 13, as the Blue and White cruised to the 97-83 victory.

George tied a career-high with 19 points on 5-of-10 from beyond the arc. McMillan notched a season-high 18 points and nine rebounds to go with four assists and two blocks. Kleinlein added 16 points and five assists, and Kearns tied a career-high with eight assists.

Miller led Roanoke with 28 points by hitting 10-of-12 shots from the floor and 6-of-8 from the line. Sophomore guard C.J. Miles had 21 points, and sophomore forward Josh Freund totaled 12 points and nine rebounds.

The Generals were nearly perfect from the foul line, making 22-of-24 (91.7 percent). The Maroons shot 22-of-31 (71.0 percent) from the charity stripe.

W&L was 32-of-62 (51.6 percent) from the field and connected on a season-high 11 three-pointers (11-of-24, 45.8 percent). The last time the Blue and White scored more than 97 points in a contest was in a 100-92 victory over Southern Virginia on November 16, 2013.

The victory also marked the 150th coaching victory at Washington and Lee for Head Coach Adam Hutchinson.

The Blue and White plays its final regular-season road game of the season on Wednesday at Randolph at 7:00 pm.

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