DANVILLE, Va. – The Washington and Lee men's basketball team was unable to recover from a slow start on Wednesday evening, as the Generals fell by a final score of 79-63 at Averett.
HOW IT HAPPENED:
- The Cougars (12-5, 5-3 ODAC) scored the first 16 points of the game and opened on an overall 24-4 run across nearly 11 minutes of play. They made 6-of-11 shots during the initial 16-0 run and 8-of-17 through 10:44 for the early 20-point advantage.
- For the remainder of the first half, the Generals (14-4, 6-3 ODAC) outscored Averett, 17-16, but trailed 40-21 at the break. The Cougars made 13-of-27 shots in the first half to 6-of-23 from the Blue and White.
- The Generals had a stronger second half, and even cut their deficit down to 12 after a John Loughlin triple with 8:21 left to play.
- Despite W&L shooting 63.6 percent (7-11) over the final eight minutes of the game, the Cougars made seven of their final 10 attempts to remain in front. They did not allow the Generals to get closer than 12 points across the last 8:21 of action.
TOP PERFORMERS:
- Senior A.J. Thomas led the Generals' offense with 14 points on an efficient 3-of-6 from the field. He made 3-of-5 three-point attempts, plus 5-of-7 foul shots, while adding four rebounds.
- Sophomore Ari Hobson scored 11 points on 4-of-6 shooting, with first-year Addison Newkirk joining Thomas and Hobson in double figures with 10 points. Newkirk was the team's top rebounder (9), with senior Colin Ryan contributing six boards and three assists.
- The Cougars had five players score double digits, paced by Mason Mitchell who had 17 points. Timayahs Bracey and Zach Skagen both scored 13 on 8-of-16 combined shooting, while Jackson Sellars and Tyler Stephens each had 10 points.
- Stephens led all players with 10 rebounds to record a double-double. Sellars was the top assist man in the game with five dimes, plus three steals on the defensive end.
TEAM STATS:
- The Generals finished the game shooting 37 percent (20-54) after making 45.2 percent (14-31) of their shots in the second half. They also connected on 17-of-26 free throws (.654).
- The Cougars shot 47.3 percent (26-55) for the game and made at least 46 percent of their shots in both halves. They were good on 48.1 percent (13-27) of their three and 14-of-16 free throws.
- Averett was the better of the two teams in rebounding at 39-29, but turned the ball over four more times than W&L (13-9).
- W&L outscored the Cougars in points off turnovers (17-12), bench points (37-16), points in the paint (20-16) and fastbreak points (12-6). Averett held the advantage in second-chance points (14-10) and points from beyond the arc (39-18).
UP NEXT:
The Generals will return to the court on Saturday when they host No. 8 Randolph-Macon at 2:00 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.
