LYNCHBURG, Va.- The Randolph men's basketball team began its new season on Saturday afternoon at it hosted Greensboro. The Pride outscored the WildCats 46-30 in the second half on their way to a 76-63 victory.

The two teams played tightly for the first few minutes of the first half. With Greensboro ahead 11-9 under the 13 minute mark, the WildCats went on a 9-0 run to go ahead18-188 at 11:17. Greensboro rallied to knot the score at 19-19 with under 10 minutes to play in the half.

The WIldCats were able to take back the lead and were ahead by as much as seven points, 30-23, with 3:48 remaining in the half. GC was able to cut its deficit to three points, 33-30, at halftime.

The second half was another back and forth battle as both team traded baskets to keep the score close. Randolph tied the game at 52-52 following a three-point basket by Tyren Hairston (Kernersville, N.C./East Forsyth. The Pride used a 12-2 run to jump ahead 64-54 with 5:19 remaining in the game. The WildCats drew to within seven points, 66-59, with 3:40 left to play but Greensboro outscored the Cats 10-4 down the stretch to come away with the win.

"It was a disappointing second half for us," said head coach Pete Hamilton after the game.  "Greensboro did a great job of getting us out of rhythm and I don't think we recovered from it.  I thought we handled the zone well to find some good looks – when those didn't fall a few times in a row we had a little panic set in and went off script a little with things.  Some of our really good looks led to leak out easy points for them with our lack of attention to floor balance.  I think you can identify some swings where we missed a few nice opportunities from three that led immediately to quick layups for them at the other end."

Overall, the Pride shot 26-of-73 (35.6%) from the floor compared to 23-of-72 (31.9%) for the WildCats. There were eight ties and 16 lead changes throughout the game.

Greensboro held a 59-46 advantage in rebounds. Bench points favored the Pride 21-20 but Randolph held a slight advantage in the paint 32-30.

Justin Dula (Taylorsville, N.C./Alexander Central) notched a double-double for the WildCats as he had 14 points and 10 rebounds. Brian Smith (Dumfries, Va./C.D. Hylton) added 10 points. Justin Lowe (Reidsville, N.C./Reidsville) added seven points, six rebounds, and two steals.

"Our entire season is going to rest on our buy in to having very minimal margin for error," noted Hamilton.  "I think tonight was a good illustration for our team that we have to be precise with our attention to detail for 40 minutes.  We will not have the luxury of relaxing and still winning games.  If we are precise with things I am really excited about what we can accomplish – but we've got work to do to get there."

The WildCats travel to Southern Virginia on Tuesday to play the Knights. Game time will be at 7:00 p.m.