LEXINGTON, Va. – Senior
Jack d'Entremont sank the game-winning layup with five seconds remaining, as the Washington and Lee men's basketball team erased an 11-point deficit over the final four minutes against Denison for a thrilling 74-73 win in the W&L Holiday Tournament Championship game on Saturday.
HOW IT HAPPENED:
The Generals (7-4) trailed by six points with just over a minute to play, before d'Entremont connected on a pivotal three with 60 seconds to go to cut it to a one-possession game. W&L got the stop it needed on the defensive end, before senior
Robert DiSibio was fouled on a three-point attempt. DiSibio made two of the three foul shots to leave the Big Red (8-5) up one point with 10 seconds left.
On the ensuing inbound play, senior
Drew Harrell flew in and knocked the ball to first-year
Conor Roberton, who shoveled the ball to DiSibio at the top of the arc, followed by a bullet pass into d'Entremont left wide open under the hoop for the go-ahead lay-in.
Denison managed a three-point shot from Kellon Smith on the wing at the buzzer, but a good contest from Harrell on the shot forced the miss, as the ball hit the front iron.
The Big Red led by as many as 11 points with 3:56 left in regulation, but W&L went on a 7-1 run over the next 1:40 to cut their deficit back to five. Denison's Trevor Reed then sank two free throws at 2:04, followed by a DiSibio layup, plus a free throw from Smith to setup the wild final minute.
W&L entered the second half with a 33-32 lead, which was extended to a seven-point advantage over the first five minutes thanks to a 13-7 run, powered by seven points from DiSibio. Denison answered fiercely, however, with a 25-7 stretch over the next 9:06 to tie their largest lead of the game (11) with 5:26 to play. Reed was a driving force during the run with 12 points.
Both offenses came out of the gates sluggish, before the Generals exploded for a 14-3 run across 4:03 of play to move out to a 16-7 lead with 13:10 before the half. First-year
Parker Neuenhaus led the team with six points during the run, as the team made 7-of-8 field goal attempts.
The Big Red then gradually clawed their way back to lead by a point in the final 30 seconds of the opening half, before DiSibio hit a fadeaway jumper on the baseline at the buzzer to put the Blue and White back ahead by one, 33-32, at halftime.
TOP PERFORMERS:
DiSibio and d'Entremont combined for 54 points in the game, with 31 from DiSibio and 23 from d'Entremont. DiSibio shot 12-of-21 from the floor, 3-of-5 from deep and added six rebounds and six assists to claim Tournament MVP honors. d'Entremont, who was also named to the All-Holiday Tournament Team, made 8-of-13 shots, plus all six from the foul line, to go along with six boards, one steal and four blocks.
Harrell chipped in seven points, including a thunderous dunk early in the first half, and he added four rebounds and four steals, while Neuenhaus tallied eight points and five rebounds.
The Big Red were led by Reed, who scored 25 points to secure a spot on the All-Tournament Team. Reed made 8-of-13 shots from the field, pulled down five rebounds and dished out three assists. Ricky Radtke finished with 11 points on 4-of-5 shooting with eight rebounds, and Smith logged eight points and six boards on the day.
NOTEWORTHY POINTS:
DiSibio's 31 points helped him vault into 14th place on the program's all-time scoring list, passing Brian Hanson '83 (1,338). Next on the scoring list is Devin Kearns '19 at 1,425 points.
TEAM STATS:
W&L shot 47.4 percent (27-57) from the field in the game and made 71.4 percent (15-21) from the free throw line, while Denison made 44.3 percent (27-61) of its shots and 58.8 percent (10-17) from the charity stripe. The Big Red held the rebounding advantage, 39-31, as well as the edges in bench points (40-12) and second-chance points (10-0). The Blue and White outpaced the Big Red in the paint (42-30), off turnovers (14-6) and on fastbreaks (15-6).
UP NEXT:
The Generals will step back into ODAC play in their next game, and for the rest of the regular season, as they host Lynchburg on Wednesday at 2:00 p.m.
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.
