WINCHESTER, Va. – Senior
Jack d'Entremont scored a game-high 22 points, including the 1,000th of his career, to propel the Washington and Lee men's basketball team to a key ODAC win, 71-63, over Shenandoah on Wednesday night.
HOW IT HAPPENED:
The Generals (13-7, 7-4 ODAC) came into the second half with a 40-24 lead, which grew to a 53-34 advantage across the first five and a half minutes. The Hornets' (15-6, 6-6 ODAC) offense then got hot, making four consecutive shots, including two from outside, for an 11-0 run to cut their deficit to eight points.
After two points each from d'Entremont and senior
Drew Harrell, Shenandoah went on another 12-4 run to get the game to a 61-57 W&L advantage with five and a half minutes to play. Sophomore
A.J. Thomas then connected on a big three for the Blue and White to get the lead back to seven points and the Generals never looked back, outscoring the Hornets, 10-6, over the final 5:08 and limiting SU to 2-of-7 shooting.
Needing only nine points entering the game to join the program's 1,000-point club, d'Entremont scored the first two points of the game and had a feel for his shot throughout the first half. He opened the game going 4-of-5 from the floor, all from inside the arc, with his 1,000th point coming on the front end of two free throws at the 3:15 mark.
The Generals pulled out to an initial 10-5 lead through the first four and a half minutes of play behind efficient shooting and strong defense, as the Hornets were just 2-of-7 in the early going. The Shenandoah offense and defense settled in, however, over the next four minutes, going 4-of-9 from the field to 1-of-7 for the Blue and White, but W&L maintained a four-point advantage.
At the 10:45 mark of the first half, senior
Robert DiSibio hit a layup to spur a 9-0 run for the Generals, which started an overall 16-5 stretch to see the Generals increase their lead to 33-18 with 3:15 left before the half. Both teams finished the first half strongly, as W&L made three of its final four shots to 2-of-3 from the hosts.
TOP PERFORMERS:
d'Entremont scored 13 of his game-high 22 in the second half, and he finished the night shooting 9-of-13 from the field, while adding seven rebounds and a steal. DiSibio tallied 18 points and six rebounds, while Harrell and Thomas notched 11 points each. Harrell's 11 points came with eight rebounds, three assists and two steals, and Thomas's 11 points marked a new career-high scoring output.
Jaylen Williams scored a Shenandoah high 19 points on 6-of-12 shooting from the field, followed by 13 points each from Joshua Stephen and Nic Pullum. Stephen and Pullum combined to shoot 11-of-20 from the field and grab a total of eight rebounds.
NOTEWORTHY POINTS:
d'Entremont is the 30th player in W&L men's basketball history to reach 1,000 career points, and his 22 points helped him pass Dave Leunig '79 and James Rich '54 (1,005) for 28th place in program history. Now with 1,013 points, d'Entremont can move up another spot on the scoring list with 11 more points.
With his 18 points, DiSibio passed Chris Jacobs '91 (1,523) for ninth place on the program's all-time scoring list. Lee Marshall '57 sits in eighth place, 24 points ahead of DiSibio.
The Generals' win on Wednesday night moves their conference record to 7-4 this season, as they pick up a vital win in a tightly packed conference. Entering the day, W&L held the No. 4 spot in the ODAC, with the distance between them and the No. 9 team (Lynchburg) being only two games.
TEAM STATS:
W&L finished the game shooting 43.9 percent (25-57) from the field, and they shot 43 percent or better in both halves. The Hornets ended at 40.7 percent (24-59) overall, but shot just under 36 percent (10-28) in the first half.
W&L held a 41-32 advantage on the glass, as well as 30-28 and 8-7 positive margins in points in the paint and fastbreak points, respectively.
UP NEXT:
The Generals return home on Saturday for the first of three straight home games, as they host Averett 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.
