HARRISONBURG, Va. – The Washington and Lee men's basketball team overcame a 10-point first-half deficit and held off a late rally by the Royals to walk out of Yoder Arena with a 75-70 win over Eastern Mennonite on Wednesday night.
HOW IT HAPPENED:
Despite W&L (4-12, 2-5 ODAC) scoring the first seven points of the game, the Royals (4-12, 1-7 ODAC) seized control early by going on a 25-10 run for an eight-point lead through 12 minutes of play. That run ended with the Royals scoring 13 points in a row, while shooting 8-of-15 overall.
The Generals then slipped behind by 10 points after a layup from Gabriel Campbell, but a layup from first-year
Connor Amorosi ignited a 16-7 W&L run to end the half, which pulled them within a point at the break. The Blue and White shot 4-of-9 from the field and got a high of six points from junior
Colin Ryan.
Coming out of the half, EMU's Aaron Brooks gave his side a three-point lead on a layup on the opening possession. Just over a minute later, W&L first-year
Bryce Breeden nailed a three-point shot to start an 18-5 run to flip the game in the Generals' favor. Both Breeden and senior
Thomas Feigin led that scoring spurt with six points each, while the team shot 7-of-9 from the field.
Over the next seven minutes of action, both teams scored 11 points each, leaving the Generals ahead by 10 points with 5:37 to go. Eastern Mennonite then tried to rally by going on a 13-7 run over the next four minutes, making all four of its shots from the field plus two free throws. With W&L leading 72-68 with 29 seconds left, Amorosi went 1-of-2 at the free throw line, before the Generals got a stop and two more good free throws from Amorosi on the other end to seal the win.
TOP PERFORMERS:
Amorosi and Ryan led a quartet of Generals in double figures with 15 points each. Both players went 7-of-8 at the free throw line, with Ryan posting 10 rebounds and five assists to seven boards from Amorosi. Breeden finished the game with 12 points as he shot 4-of-8 from outside, while Feigin tallied 11 points. Breeden also came away with two steals to lead the defense.
The Royals got a combined 44 points from Kaleb Torrence and Aviwe Mahlong on 13-of-28 shooting. Torrence led all scorers with 24 points and made 6-of-11 three-point shots, while Mahlong scored 20 and pulled in six rebounds.
NOTEWORTHY POINTS:
The Generals' win over Eastern Mennonite on Wednesday marked the fifth straight in the series for W&L and the 11th in the last 12 meetings between the two teams.
Breeden's 4-for-8 game on three-point shots extended his hot-shooting streak. Breeden has made multiple triples in four straight games, 13 total, and is connecting at a rate of 56.5 percent from outside in that span. Breeden's overall three-point percentage for the season stands at 0.483 (14-29).
TEAM STATS:
The Royals edged the Generals in field goal shooting percentage on the night, finishing at 44.4 percent (24-54), while making 12-of-27 shots in both halves. W&L ended the game at 43.6 percent (24-55), but a mark of 50 percent (13-26) in the second half helped push them past the Royals.
Scoring margins in the game were slim, but W&L came out ahead in bench points (19-15), second-chance points (9-8) and points in the paint (26-24). The Royals held the positive edge in points off turnovers at 13-9.
UP NEXT:
The Generals will stay on the road for their next game, as they travel to the University of Lynchburg on Saturday for a 4:30 p.m. opening tip-off.
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.
