BUENA VISTA, Va. – The Washington and Lee men's basketball team cut a 24-point, first-half deficit down to four late in the second half, but Southern Virginia escaped with a 97-88 win over the Generals on Tuesday afternoon.
HOW IT HAPPENED:
With the score favoring the Knights (4-1), 7-5, through two minutes of play, the hosts proceeded to go on an 18-3 run on 7-of-9 shooting and 4-for-4 from deep to build up a 25-8 advantage seven minutes in. An
A.J. Thomas free throw and a
Connor Amorosi layup ended the run, however, SVU stayed hot from the field with another 12-2 stretch to gain its largest lead of the game at 37-13 with 8:41 before half.
The Generals (1-4) then locked in for a 22-6 run of their own over the next six minutes to recover and pull back to within eight points. Amorosi could not be stopped during that stretch, as he scored a team-high 13 points, while W&L connected on 8-of-9 shots overall, including 2-for-2 from beyond the arc.
From 1:47 of the first until 19:13 remained in the game, the Knights looked to pull away by scoring 10 of the next 15 points in the game for a 53-40 lead. For the next 15 minutes, each team's score was met with an answer from the opposite side, as the Knights (34) and Generals (33) nearly split 67 total points to keep SVU up, 87-73, with four and a half to play.
After a Tillman Johnson layup at the 4:27 mark, junior
John Loughlin connected on a three pointer to jumpstart a 10-0 run from the Blue and White and make it an 87-83 game. The run featured a team-high five points from Thomas, who also got a layup to fall while being fouled to fire up his teammates. The Knights regained control on their end and went on an 8-2 run to go back up by 10 points with 28 seconds left to assure the win.
TOP PERFORMERS:
Amorosi finished with a team-high 25 points on 9-of-14 shooting, 7-of-10 at the free throw line and a team-best eight rebounds. Thomas followed with a career-high 22 points on an efficient 7-of-10 from the floor and 2-for-5 from three-point range. Loughlin tallied 18 points and nailed 6-of-12 threes, while junior
Colin Ryan notched 10 points, four boards and seven assists. Sophomore
Conor Roberton added five assists himself, to go along with four rebounds and seven points.
Eli Ballstaedt led a group of five Knights in double figures with 22 points on 6-of-10 shooting and 3-of-5 from deep. Tyler Kartchner scored 19 points (7-8 FG), followed by DJ Green with 16, Johnson at 13 and Collin Griffith with 12 points. Johnson paced SVU with eight rebounds, seven assists and three steals.
TEAM STATS:
The Generals shot an even 50 percent (31-62) from the floor in the game, while shooting 50 percent in both halves. They also made 37.9 percent (11-29) of their three-point shots, but 15-of-29 free throws. The Knights finished the day at 56.4 percent (31-55) shooting, and 53 percent or better in both halves, with a 9-of-18 effort on three-point attempts and a 26-of-33 performance at the foul line.
W&L outrebounded the home side by a total of 33-30 and pulled down 12 offensive boards which led to a 12-8 edge in second-chance points. The Blue and White's bench outscored SVU's, 25-15, but the Knights held positive margins in points off turnovers (21-14), points in the paint (42-40) and fastbreak points (24-11).
UP NEXT:
The Generals will return to the court on Monday when they host Maryville (Tenn.) at 7:00 p.m. in Holekamp Gym.
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.
