BUENTA VISTA, Va.- The Randolph men's basketball team got off to a furious start in their game with Southern Virginia on Tuesday night. The WildCats had a double-digit lead just over four minutes in and never trailed as they defeated the Knights 83-64.
The WildCats led 15-2 at the 15:42 mark of the first half as they overwhelmed Southern Virginia by shooting 6-of-8 from the field. The Randolph lead grew to as much as 17 points, 23-6, following back-to-back three point buckets by Evan Makle (Dumfries, Va./Christ Chapel Academy).
An 11-0 run by the WildCats that spanned almost four and a half minutes of game time upped the Randolph lead to 38-11 with 7:09 remaining in the first half. The 'Cats went into the locker room ahead 43-24.
In the second half, Randolph had its biggest lead of the evening of 30 points at 11:23 following a pair of free throws by Makle. Southern Virginia had a small rally as it used a 14-6 run to get the score to 69-47 with 6:01 remaining in the contest. The WildCat lead was never in danger as Randolph held a comfortable advantage for the remainder of the game.
"It was a well balanced offensive attack and I think that comes from our pace we want to achieve," said head coach Pete Hamilton. "When we're flowing offensively and spreading the court I think we can get stat lines like we did tonight with multiple double digit scorers and some 9's and 7's in the points column."
As a team, Randolph shot 33-of-63 (52.4%) compared to SVU's 22-of-65 (33.8%). The WildCats were 7-of-19 from behind the three-point arc and 10-13 from the free throw line.
The Knights did win the rebounding battled 42-39. While the Cats had 20 turnovers to SVU's 17, Randolph had a 25-10 advantage in points off of those turnovers. The WildCats controlled the paint 40-24 and received 34 points from its bench while the Knights had 19 points.
Four WildCats scored in double figures led by Brian Smith's (Dumfries, Va./C.D. Hylton), 14 points. Makle added 13 points on 4-of-7 shooting and was 3-of-6 in three-point shots. He also had three rebounds, two assists, and two steals. Justin Dula (Taylorsville, N.C./Alexander Central) was a rebound short of his second-straight double-double performance as he finished with 11 points and nine rebounds. He dished out four assists, came away with three steals, and blocked two shots. Zach Hinton (Manassas, Va./Stonewall Jackson) chipped in 10 points and four rebounds.
It feels good to get the first W of the season and it's always rewarding to get a road win, noted Hamilton. "Proud of the grit we had tonight from the jump. SVU has a lot of really good offensive threats and our entire plan was to create an uncomfortable atmosphere for them for 40 minutes. Jerry Goodman started the presence in our full court man and guys like AJ Marshall, Evan Makle and Brian Smith continued the ball pressure to throw them out of rhythm."
Randolph will play Division I Longwood in an exhibition this Friday night in Farmville. Game time will be at 7:00 p.m.
