LYNCHBURG, VA — The Randolph College men's basketball team led for almost 30 minutes of the contest Wednesday evening but couldn't hold on as Lynchburg College earned a 63-56 Old Dominion Athletic Conference (ODAC) win over the WildCats in play from the Randolph Athletics and Dance (RAD) Center.

The win puts Lynchburg (14-9/8-6 ODAC) two and a half games up on the WildCats in the battle for fifth place, though Randolph (10-12/5-8 ODAC) has three games to play on the season including another tussle against LC in 10 days. Lynchburg only has two games remaining, with the other being a contest against Virginia Wesleyan College a week from today.

The WildCats shot very well in the first half, making 57.1 percent of their shots including five-of-11 from deep. Lynchburg didn't shoot well but kept themselves in the game due to 11 more shot attempts, the result of 10 offensive rebounds.

The first half featured four lead changes as well as two tied ball games, though Randolph took its biggest lead of the game at 17-12 after a jumper from junior Colton Hunt (Whittier, NC/Smoky Mountain). The lead would never get any bigger than three for either team the rest of the half, as Randolph took a 30-29 edge into halftime.

The second half proved to be much of the same, as Randolph's lead fluctuated from four to one points over the first 10 minutes of the stanza. With Randolph up by four with 11 minutes to go, LC manufactured a 10-2 spurt to go ahead 52-48 with 5:54 to play.

The WildCats couldn't answer the Hornets, making only three field goals over the last nine minutes of the ball game as LC sealed the game from the line. Hunt posted a team-high of 19 points, finishing with six boards, six assists and two steals.

Senior Derrick Woods-Morrow (Greensboro, NC/NE Guilford) had 17 points, as he made eight-of-nine from the field, also corralling eight boards. Sophomore Mike Ehilegbu (Raleigh, NC/Ravenscroft) had 15 points as well for Randolph, who only had one other person score which was Chris Battaglia (Smithfield, VA/Portsmouth) with five points.

The WildCats only took seven free throws on the evening, and fired more three pointers (26) than shots inside the three-point arc (25). Randolph shot a strong 45.1 percent on the contest, though 20 turnovers hurt the cause as well.

Lynchburg was led by the game-high of 20 points from junior Austin Chillemi. Manny Hernandez chalked up 11 points off the bench, and Xavier Parham added 10 points, five assists and three steals. LC won the rebounding battle 38-30 plus making 82.4 percent (14-17) from the charity stripe.

Randolph will look to rebound on Saturday for Senior Day against the Quakers of Guilford College at 2 p.m. as part of a men's-women's doubleheader. Festivities to honor Woods-Morrow, Julius Thomas (Chesapeake, VA/Stonebridge) and Malcolm Nelson (Richmond, VA/Trinity Episcopal) start just prior to the contest.