LEXINGTON, Va. – First-year
Parker Neuenhaus dropped a season-high 22 points, and missed only one shot, as the Washington and Lee men's basketball team routed Southern Virginia, 97-67, on Tuesday heading into Thanksgiving break.
HOW IT HAPPENED:
Both sides remained close in a low-scoring start to the contest, with SVU's (3-3) Koa Baker knocking down a pair of triples and scoring all seven of the Knights' points in the first five and a half minutes. Neuenhaus then helped the Generals rev up their offense with a three to spark an 8-2 run, followed shortly thereafter by an 11-0 stretch to get the lead up to 26-13 at the 7:41 mark. Neuenhaus led the 11-0 run with five points, and he had 10 points in the first 13 minutes.
W&L (4-1) kept their lead at 13 after some back-and-forth across the next five minutes, before another 9-0 run boosted the Blue and White advantage to 47-25. Senior
Robert DiSibio powered that second run with seven points, helping the Generals take a 49-27 lead into the halftime break.
The Generals continued to outplay the Knights in the second half and gradually grew their lead up to a game-high 30 points when the final buzzer sounded. Southern Virginia came no closer than 18 points across the final 20 minutes, which came after a DJ Green jumper at the 9:50 mark (71-53), while DiSibio and Neuenhaus combined for 23 points in the second half to keep W&L out in front.
TOP PERFORMERS:
Neuenhaus's 22 points came on 7-of-8 shooting from the field, which included a perfect 4-for-4 from beyond the arc and 4-of-6 at the foul line. DiSibio finished the game with 26 points and six rebounds, while senior
Jack d'Entremont picked up another double-double with 12 points and 11 boards. Senior
Drew Harrell chimed in with nine points and a career-high eight dimes, and first-year
Conor Roberton assisted on five field goals.
The Knights were led by Baker, who ended the game with 22 points and 10 rebounds. Baker made 6-of-15 shots from the floor, 3-of-6 from deep and 7-of-8 from the free throw line. Malakai Olson came in next with 14 points and nine rebounds, and Tyler Kartchner added 12 points and four boards.
NOTEWORTHY POINTS:
DiSibio moved past Steve Hancock '88 (1,215) on the W&L men's basketball all-time scoring list and into a tie for 19th place with Jeff Harralson '87 at 1,219 points. DiSibio trails Andrew Franz '16 by just six points for the next step up the scoring chart.
Additionally, DiSibio made four three-point shots on Tuesday, which leaves him one away from tying Nicholas George '18 for seventh in program history in made triples.
TEAM STATS:
W&L finished the game at 46.3 percent (31-67) shooting and 41.9 percent (13-31) from long range, while holding the Knights to 37.9 percent (25-66) overall and just 16.7 percent (4-24) from behind the three-point line. The Generals also made 22-of-28 shots (.786) at the foul line and got big support from their bench, who outscored SVU's bench by a 37-7 margin.
Additional W&L advantages came in points off turnovers (20-6), second-chance points (19-14), fastbreak points (18-3) and points in the paint (32-30).
UP NEXT:
The Generals will break for the Thanksgiving holiday and return to action on Wednesday, November 29, for a 7:00 p.m. start at Eastern Mennonite.
Nestled in the mountains of Virginia, Washington and Lee University is a proud member of NCAA Division III and the Old Dominion Athletic Conference. Founded in 1749, W&L is the ninth-oldest college in the United States and a top-ranked liberal arts university. With over 500 student-athletes in 24 varsity sports, the Generals have celebrated over 265 conference championships. Learn more about the Blue and White by visiting www.generalssports.com or on social media at @WLUGenerals.
