SALEM, Va.- Host Roanoke built up a 41-25 halftime lead on visiting Randolph and the Maroons used that to come away with a 73-51 win on Wednesday night. Randolph drops to 7-12 overall and 2-8 in the Old Dominion Athletic Conference while Roanoke improves to 14-5 and 7-3 in the conference.

It was a tight game in the early moments of the first half with both teams trading leads. The WildCats went ahead 7-5 at the 16:32 mark following a three from Sammy Hooper (Richmond, Va./Midlothian). RC tied and then went ahead 9-7 but a Zach Hinton (Manassas, Va./Stonewall Jackson) layup knotted the score at 9-9 at 14:34. An 8-0 Marron run put the home team ahead 17-9. Randolph was able to whittle it down to four points, 19-15, at 9:17 after Brian Smith (Dumfries, Va./C.D. Hylton) drilled a three-point basket.

It was a five-point game, 21-16, with 8:32 remaining until halftime. Roanoke then went on a 17-5 run to burst out to a 37-21 lead with 2:25 showing on the game clock.

The Maroons controlled the second half from the onset as it rattled off 13 straight points to increase its advantage to 54-25 just over six minutes in. Randolph missed its first nine shots of the period before Elijah Ford (Chantilly, Va./Chantilly) converted a layup at 13:01. The WildCats would get as close as 17 points, 62-45, with 3:40 remaining to play.

Smith led the team with 14 points on the evening on 5-of-9 shooting. Hooper added 10 points, four rebounds, and three steals. Dula and Ford both pulled down a team-high six rebounds each.

Randolph returns to its home floor this Saturday when it hosts Shenandoah. Game time will be at 4:30 pm following the women's game.