LEXINGTON, Va. – The Washington and Lee men's basketball team closed the game on an 18-4 run to come away with a 61-44 win over Averett on the home floor on Saturday afternoon.
HOW IT HAPPENED:
In what had been a tight game for over 30 minutes of play, the Generals' (14-7, 8-4 ODAC) offense and defense started clicking with 11:08 left in the contest, as a 7-0 run pushed their lead from three to 10 points. Averett's (4-18, 2-11 ODAC) Jamison Graves answered with a jumper, but the Blue and White countered with nine straight points across the next five minutes to see their lead grow to 59-42.
Jason Sellars II hit a layup with 37 seconds left in what was the Cougars' second made field goal since the beginning of the 7-0 W&L run. First-year
Ishaan Bhadouria put a stamp on the W&L win on the next possession with a step back jumper to close the scoring.
Averett grabbed a 16-10 lead in the first eight and a half minutes behind a 7-of-14 effort from the floor and no turnovers. W&L senior
Robert DiSibio then hit a floater to spark a 10-0 run to flip the game in the Generals' favor by four points with four minutes before halftime. Both sides continued to fight until the break, with Averett pulling back even, 25-25, on a Jordan Lewis bucket with 30 seconds remaining.
The Cougars struggled shooting the ball coming out of the locker room, as they made just 6-of-17 shots from the field and 1-of-7 from deep in the first nine minutes of the second half. Conversely, the Generals managed to get to a three-point lead ahead of the final 18-4 run after they shot 6-of-9 from the field in the span, including 2-for-2 on three-point attempts and 4-for-4 at the free throw line.
TOP PERFORMERS:
DiSibio finished the game with a high of 21 points to go along with 10 rebounds for his fifth double-double of the season. Senior
Drew Harrell tallied 13 points, as he connected on 5-of-8 shots from the field and 2-of-3 from beyond the arc. He also totaled five rebounds, two assists, one block and three steals.
d'Entremont came in next at nine points, while sophomore
Colin Ryan made all four of his field-goal attempts for nine points, and he dished out six assists.
The Cougars were led by Lewis and Sellars who scored 13 points and 12 points, respectively, on a combined 11-of-24 shooting. Sellars also came away with seven rebounds and two blocks. Bryce Shaw added eight points, six rebounds, three assists, two blocks and two steals.
NOTEWORTHY POINTS:
With his 21 points, DiSibio will go into the team's next game needing just four more points to pass Lee Marshall '57 (1,561) for eighth place on the program's all-time scoring list. d'Entremont can also make moves up the scoring list in his next appearance, needing two points to pass J.D. Ey '13 (1,023) for 27th and 13 points to pass Rob Smitherman '81 (1.034) for 26th.
W&L's 44 points allowed to the Cougars marks the best defensive output by the Generals since the program held former ODAC foe Emory & Henry to 44 points on February 6, 2013. The Generals posted a 30-point win that day.
TEAM STATS:
Both teams shot below 40 percent in the first half, but the Generals completed the game at 46.0 percent (23-50) overall after making 54.2 percent (13-24) of their shots in the second half. The Cougars' field goal percentage for the game sank to 31.0 (18-58) after making just 25.8 percent (8-31) over the final 20 minutes.
W&L also held positive margins for the day in fastbreak points (12-0) and points in the paint (36-20), while Averett bested the Blue and White in points off turnovers (14-11) and bench points (9-5).
UP NEXT:
The Generals will return to action on Wednesday when they host No. 8 Randolph-Macon at 7:30 p.m. in another crucial ODAC battle.
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.
