LEXINGTON, Va. – Despite a strong showing in the first half scoring 42 points, the Washington and Lee men's basketball team fell against No. 8 Randolph-Macon, 82-66, on Saturday afternoon.
HOW IT HAPPENED:
- The Generals (14-5, 6-4 ODAC) were led in the first half by the superb play of sophomore Connor Amorosi. He made all seven of his field goal attempts, including two threes and five free throws for 21 first-half points.
- Amorosi scored exactly half of W&L's first-half points to help the Generals to a 42-33 lead at the break. Seven of Amorosi's 21 points came during a 10-0 run from 9:10 to 7:06, which put W&L ahead 30-18 at the time.
- The Yellow Jackets got their deficit to eight points before first-year Addison Newkirk sank back-to-back three with five minutes left for W&L's largest lead of the game (14).
- Randolph-Macon quickly got back into the game in the second half, as the team made each of its first six shots and 10-of-12 overall to gain a 58-55 lead by the 10:37 mark. Jabril Robinson scored 11 of the team's first 25 points during that stretch.
- The Yellow Jackets remained hot throughout the second half to close out the game, making six of their final 10 attempts and 16-of-22 overall in the second half.
TOP PERFORMERS:
- Amorosi finished at 25 points for the game to lead all scorers. He made 9-of-14 shots and had one rebound, one assist and one steal.
- Newkirk closed the day with 14 points on 5-of-9 shooting, and he led the Generals with eight rebounds. Sophomore Bryce Breeden added 11 points on 4-for-6 shooting.
- Robinson was the Yellow Jackets' leading scorer at 20 points on 8-of-12 shooting, with 16 points coming in the second half. Theo Antinori followed with 15 points on 4-for-8 shooting and 3-for-6 from outside.
- Delani Hammonds contributed 14 points (4-8 FG, 3-5 3pt FG), five rebounds, two assists and two steals, with Amr Areikat rounding out the double-digit scorers with 11.
INSIDE THE NUMBERS:
- Senior Colin Ryan led all players with eight assists on Saturday to cross the 100-assist mark for the second consecutive season. With 105 helpers now this year and 317 for his career, Ryan needs three more to pass Walt Plyler '00 for the fifth-most assists in program history.
TEAM STATS:
- The Generals shot 46 percent (23-50) for the game and 56 percent (14-25) in the first half, while making 8-of-16 three-point shots on the day. Randolph-Macon's hot second half pushed their field goal percentage for the game to 0.549 (28-51), and they made 10-of-22 (.455) threes.
- The Yellow Jackets held the rebounding advantage, 29-25, while W&L was the top team in second-chance points, 12-6. Both teams scored 12 points off turnovers, with the Yellow Jackets winning the turnover battle (12-8).
- RMC had the decisive advantage in the game in bench points (36-8), in addition to points in the paint (34-24) and fastbreak points (12-7).
UP NEXT:
The Generals will be back in action on Wednesday evening when they host No. 10 Roanoke at 5:00 p.m. W&L claimed the first meeting against the Maroons, 58-57, back on January 10 in Salem.
