LEXINGTON, Va. – The Washington and Lee men's basketball team fell behind late and was unable to recover, as the Generals dropped a 75-60 decision at home to Maryville (Tenn.) on Monday evening.
HOW IT HAPPENED:
The Generals (1-5) opened with a 10-4 lead through four minutes of play, highlighted by back-to-back threes from first-year
Joe Rhyne and senior
Thomas Feigin. The Scots (5-4) then claimed the first lengthy run of the game, as they outscored W&L 18-8 over the next 8:41 to grab a 22-18 lead, with eight of those points coming from Chase Morgan. Scoring was nearly even for the remainder of the half (11-9 WLU), as the Scots went into halftime ahead, 31-29.
W&L did, however, get the final two scores of the first half, a three from senior
A.J. Thomas and a layup from first-year
Connor Amorosi, to go on a 9-0 run spanning the first two minutes of the second half. Maryville cut its deficit down to a point over the next three minutes, before going on a 13-0 run to flip the game into their favor. The team got four triples to fall during the run, including two from Reed Kemp.
The Generals continued to fight with a 16-11 spurt over the next five minutes to get the Maryville lead down to 64-57 with 4:45 left. Feigin nailed two more three-point shots, and the Generals got a team-high eight points from Amorosi during that time. Maryville's Jackson Garner responded to an Amorosi layup with a three of his own, as the Scots outscored the Blue and White, 11-3, over the final 4:27 to put the game away.
TOP PERFORMERS:
Amorosi was W&L's leading scorer on the night with 18 points on 7-of-16 shooting and 2-for-4 from beyond the arc. He also added six rebounds, tied with junior
John Loughlin for the team high, with two blocks on the defensive end. Feigin finished the game with 11 points on 4-of-8 shooting (3-6 3pt FG), plus 10 points and five rebounds from Thomas. Junior
Colin Ryan contributed eight points, five boards and a career-high eight assists.
Morgan tallied a game-high 22 points and grabbed 11 rebounds to finish with a double-double. Morgan made 8-of-12 shots from the field, plus 5-of-6 at the foul line, and blocked six shots. Kemp notched 16 points, five rebounds and five assists, and Garner rounded out the double-digit scorers with 12 points.
TEAM STATS:
The Scots made 44.3 percent (27-61) of their shots in the game, including 47.8 percent (11-23) of their threes and 10-of-15 free throws. W&L converted on 35 percent (21-60) from the field, 33.3 percent (8-24) from long range and matched Maryville's free throw totals. Three-point shooting kept the Generals in the game in the first half, as they made 5-of-12 to 2-for-9 from the visitors. The Scots then connected on 9-of-14 triples in the second half to pull away.
W&L's bench outscored Maryville's by a 24-9 margin, but the Scots held advantages in points off turnovers (15-8), points in the paint (24-20) and second-chance points (16-11).
UP NEXT:
The Generals will break from game action until December 20 when they travel to Hampden-Sydney College for the first day of the Charlie Cobb Classic. The Blue and White will face-off against Eastern that evening at 5:30 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.
