VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. — The Washington and Lee men's basketball team went scoreless for a seven-minute stretch in the second half in an 82-74 loss at Virginia Wesleyan on Saturday.
 
The Generals (10-4, 2-3 ODAC) fell behind by 15 points midway through the opening period, but fought back, closing the first with nine straight points to assume a 39-37 lead at the break.
 
The two squads went back and forth over the first three minutes of the second with first-year guard Jack Lewis (Rockville, Md./Sidwell Friends) giving W&L a 48-47 advantage on an old-fashioned three-point play with 17:04 remaining in the contest.
 
Over the next 7:14 of the game, the Blue and White went 0-of-11 from the field and committed four turnovers, while the Marlins (12-2, 4-1 ODAC) scored 12 points to take a 59-48 lead. Junior forward William Brueggeman (Houston, Texas/Strake Jesuit College Prep) ended the scoring drought with three made free throws at the 9:50 mark to pull the Generals to within eight (59-51).
 
W&L trimmed the deficit to seven, 65-58, on a layup by senior forward Mark Croughan (Rye, N.Y./Rye) with 7:06 to go in the game, but VWU tallied the next seven points to balloon its lead to 14 (72-58) at the 4:57 mark to effectively put the game away.
 
Senior guard Kevin Dennin (Severna Park, Md./Severn School) led the Generals with 16 points on just seven shots, making 5-of-7 from the floor and 4-of-5 from long range. He also had two blocks and two steals. Bruggeman notched 12 points, while sophomore guard Mark Lamendola (Pittsburgh, Pa./Mount Lebanon) and first-year guard Sam Wise (Winchester, Va./John Handley) each totaled 10.
 
Both squads shot around 40 percent from the field, but Virginia Wesleyan made 9-of-23 (39.1 percent) from the three-point range, while W&L shot just 29.6 percent (8-of-27). The Blue and White did shoot 74.1 percent (20-of-27) from the foul line compared to 56.5 percent (13-of-23) for the Marlins.
 
Virginia Wesleyan held a 41-32 edge in the rebounding battle, marking just the second time this season W&L has been outrebounded. The only other time came against nationally-ranked Randolph-Macon on November 11.
 
Junior guard Corey Pelham led the Marlins with 18 points and five rebounds. Senior guard Daniel Spencer totaled 16 points and eight boards, while senior guard Percy Burt registered 14 points and seven rebounds. Junior forward Tim Fisher finished with a double-double (13 points & 12 rebounds).
 
The Generals return to action on Wednesday, when they play at Randolph at 5:00 pm.