LEXINGTON, Va. – The Washington and Lee men's basketball team secured a 64-56 win over No. 17 Roanoke on Wednesday night behind tight perimeter defense and four double-digit scorers.
HOW IT HAPPENED:
- The Generals (15-5, 7-4 ODAC) came out confident to start the game, making eight of their first 17 shots in nine and a half minutes for a 20-16 lead. As he did in the previous game, sophomore Connor Amorosi had the hot hand early with nine points.
- The Maroons (15-5, 8-3 ODAC) looked to seize control of the opening half by scoring the next seven points to take a three-point lead, but first-year Daniel Buttemere answered with a three to tie the score with 8:20 left.
- Buttemere's triple helped the Generals close the half on an 18-7 run for a 38-30 lead at the break, before Amorosi and senior John Loughlin scored the first five points of the second half to make it a 13-point W&L lead.
- After the Generals' lead ballooned to 17 points by the 13:54 mark of the second half, Roanoke went on a 15-4 run across eight minutes of play to cut their deficit down to six points with under six minutes left. Grant Hamilton led the Maroons during that run with 11 points.
- Senior A.J. Thomas ended the Roanoke rally with a layup on a hop-step through traffic plus a free throw after a foul. After an Addison Newkirk jumper a minute and half later put the Generals back up 11 points, the Maroons only mustered another five points, as they ended the game shooting 1-for-9 over the final 6:30.
TOP PERFORMERS:
- Amorosi was the Generals' top scorer with 17 points on 8-of-12 shooting from the floor. Loughlin made a trio of threes and went 6-for-7 at the free throw line for 15 points, to go along with six rebounds.
- Buttemere had his best scoring effort of the season, going for 13 points on 5-of-11 shooting. Thomas rounded out the four Generals in double figures with 10 points, plus eight boards, including an emphatic, two-handed slam in the first half.
- Jackson Bell paced the Roanoke offense with 12 points, in addition to seven rebounds and three steals. Hamilton ended the day with 11 points and Caleb Franze scored 10 points.
- Patrick Clevenger led all players with 10 rebounds, while RC's Gavin O'Malley had nine points and eight rebounds.
INSIDE THE NUMBERS:
- Senior Colin Ryan dished out three assists on Wednesday night. That moved him one helper past Walt Plyler '00 (319) for fifth on the program's career assist list. Ryan can vault into fourth place with eight more (Andrew Franz '16).
TEAM STATS:
- The Generals shot 42.3 percent (22-52) from the floor for the game, including 30.4 percent (7-23) from outside. The Maroons struggled both from the field and from beyond the arc. They made 27.7 percent (18-65) of their field goals, including just 10.7 percent (3-28) of their threes.
- Roanoke was the top rebounding team with a 44-39 margin in total rebounds and 14-4 on the offensive glass. Those numbers also helped the Maroons outscore the Generals, 10-7, in second-chance points.
- The Maroons held additional scoring advantages in points off turnovers (13-6), points in the paint (24-20) and fastbreak points (13-6). The W&L bench was the better of the two, producing 27 points to 21 from Roanoke.
UP NEXT:
The Generals will be back in action on Saturday when they host Guilford at 2:00 p.m. Prior to opening tip-off, the program will be recognizing its three-player senior class (Thomas, Loughlin, Ryan) as part of Senior Day festivities.
Check out senior
A.J. Thomas's highlight reel dunk on Instagram:
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.
