BUENA VISTA, Va. — The Washington and Lee men's basketball team erased a 23-point second-half deficit in just nine minutes of game action en route to an 81-73 victory at Southern Virginia on Tuesday.
 
Senior forward Bennett Candland drilled a jumper with 15:53 remaining in the contest to give the Knights (0-8) a 56-33 lead. Sophomore guard Mark Lamendola (Pittsburgh, Pa./Mount Lebanon) notched three straight points and junior forward Curtis Mitchell (Chevy Chase, Md./Georgetown Prep) made a jumper to cut the lead to 56-38.
 
SVU was back up 20 (60-40) with 13:09 left in the game, but a three-pointer by junior guard Kevin Dennin (Severna Park, Md./Severn School) and a pair of free throws by first-year guard Sam Wise (Winchester, Va./John Handley) pulled the Generals (4-2) to within 15, 60-45.
 
W&L then turned up the pressure with a full-court press, and after a steal by junior forward William Brueggeman (Houston, Texas/Strake Jesuit College Prep), senior forward Mark Croughan (Rye, N.Y./Rye) dropped in a layup to bring the score to 60-47 with 12:09 remaining in the game.
 
The lead was 64-51 at the 10:40 mark, and then a layup by Lamendola and two more free throws from Wise cut the margin to single digits with 9:50 on the clock. Brueggeman stole the ensuing in-bounds pass and found first-year guard Richie Manigault (Stewartsville, N.J./Phillipsburg) cutting to the hoop for a layup to slice the lead to 64-57 with 9:47 in the game.
 
A timeout by the Knights momentarily stalled W&L's 6-0 run, but a missed shot by SVU out of the break and a layup by Brueggeman pulled the Blue and White to within five (64-59). A steal and bucket by Wise, followed by a steal by Dennin and another layup by Wise cut the advantage to just one, 64-63, with 8:37 left in the contest.
 
SVU regained a three-point edge (66-63) on a basket by first-year forward Kimball Cottam, but a three-pointer from the corner by Wise evened the score, 66-66, with 7:19 remaining on the clock. A few possessions later, Mitchell gave the Generals their first lead of the game (67-66) when he split a pair of free throws.
 
The Generals led by three (73-70) with 3:41 remaining in the contest, and then a fast-break layup by Lamendola extended the lead to 75-70 with just 2:15 left on the clock.
 
SVU drilled a jumper with 1:42 to go to trim the advantage to 75-73, but Brueggeman responded with a back-door layup off a feed from Mitchell to stretch the margin back to four (77-73) at the 1:28 mark. The bucket started a 6-0 spurt to end the game for the Blue and White, as the team pulled out the 81-73 win.
 
The Generals outscored the Knights, 50-27, in the second half, including a 48-17 onslaught over the final 16 minutes. W&L had 10 steals after intermission and forced 13 second-half turnovers by SVU.
 
Wise led W&L with a career-best 25 points to go with five assists, two steals and three rebounds. He was 7-of-11 from the field and 10-of-14 from the line. Lamendola totaled 19 points and five steals, making 9-of-15 shots from the floor. Manigault had 11 points and five rebounds.
 
Mitchell recorded six points, 13 rebounds and five assists, while Brueggeman had nine points, eight rebounds, three assists and three steals.
 
The Blue and White trailed by 15 (46-31) at the end of the first and it marked the second time in three years the team has overcome a double-digit deficit at the half. The Generals were losing at Guilford, 49-34, on November 29, 2017 and came back to win, 94-90.
 
Senior guard Sam Armstrong led the Knights with 18 points, while junior guard Jamier Cross notched a double-double with 13 points, 10 rebounds and five assists.
 
The Generals return to action on Sunday, when they host Hampden-Sydney at 1:00 pm.