LEXINGTON, Va. – The Washington and Lee men's basketball team saw its 2024-25 season come to an end on Saturday afternoon following an 83-77 loss against Ferrum in Holekamp Gym.
HOW IT HAPPENED:
The Panthers (17-8, 9-7 ODAC) opened the second half with three points from Ashton Troutman to make it a 40-36 game, before the Generals (7-18, 5-11 ODAC) went on to hit four of their next five shots for a 10-2 run and open up a 50-38 lead at the 17:15 mark. W&L got five points each from first-year
Connor Amorosi and junior
A.J. Thomas, including an Amorosi triple to cap off the run.
Ferrum then managed to hold W&L without a field goal for the next four minutes while making 5-of-6 shots from the field for a 13-4 run to close the gap to three points. Junior
Colin Ryan proceeded to give the Generals life with back-to-back buckets before he hit a turnaround jumper at the 10:17 mark for a 62-56 W&L lead. The Panthers responded, however, with 12 consecutive points and an overall 15-2 run, with eight points from Gerren Jones, to flip the game into their favor, 71-64.
W&L continued to battle and got their deficit down to four points with 1:47 left when Amorosi connected on a three. After both teams exchanged four points each, the Panthers came up with a defensive stop and grabbed the rebound ahead of two Charles Tart free throws with eight seconds left to close out the scoring.
Despite Ferrum holding a 14-11 lead through the first eight minutes of the game, the Generals had hit on 4-of-6 field goal attempts and 2-of-3 from deep. After a Tart triple gave the Panthers a 20-15 lead, senior
Thomas Feigin and Amorosi hit consecutive three-point shots to kickstart a 14-2 run for the Generals and get them their first lead of the day. Both teams scored 11 points from then until halftime (5:56 of action), with W&L's largest lead reaching nine at the 1:42 mark.
TOP PERFORMERS:
Amorosi led all scorers with a season-high 30 points on 11-of-16 shooting, 4-for-6 from three-point range and 4-for-4 on free throws. Ryan scored a career-high 22 to keep the offense going, and he tied Thomas for the team high in rebounds (7). Thomas finished with nine points, while Feigin scored six and led all players with three steals.
Jones was the Panthers' leading scorer at 23 points on 7-of-12 shooting (3-7 3pt FG) and 6-of-6 at the foul line. Tart followed with 18 points and Alfredo Abel-Rivera tallied a 16-point, 10-rebound effort. Marcus Willis rounded out the double-digit scorers with 11.
TEAM STATS:
The Generals finished the game shooting 47.4 percent (27-57) from the floor, including 57.7 percent (15-26) in the first half, plus 83.3 percent (15-18) at the free throw line. Ferrum made an even 50 percent (27-54) of its shots, including 60.7 percent (17-28) in the second half, to go along with a 20-of-26 game on free throws.
W&L outscored the Panthers in the paint (32-26) and on fastbreaks (7-6), while Ferrum held advantages in points off turnovers (15-11), second-chance points (20-18) and bench points (33-13).
END-OF-SEASON NOTES:
This concludes the W&L men's basketball team's 2024-25 season, after they needed either a win or Shenandoah loss against Bridgewater to qualify for the ODAC Championship.
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.
