FT. LAUDERDALE, Fla.- The Randolph men's basketball team took on SUNY New Paltz in the first of two games at the Cruzin Classic down in Florida on Saturday. The WildCats had five players reach double figures as Randolph won 86-73.
The win improves the 'Cats overall record to 5-6. The Hawks drop to 3-5 overall.
New Paltz took the lead on the first basket of the game 41 seconds in. A three from CJ Loving (Madison Heights, Va./Amherst County) gave Randolph the advantage and the WildCats led for the majority of the half. The Hawks were ahead 24-22 with 6:32 remaining when the WildCats went on a 24-10 run in the last 6:05 of game time to pull ahead and lead 46-34 at the break.
Randolph led for all of the second half. The Hawks cut their deficit to single digits, 59-50, with 11:01 remaining in regulation. Randolph's 17-3 run that covered 3:40 of game time gave the 'Cats their biggest lead of afternoon 76-53 with 5:47 left to play. The WildCats were easily in control for the remainder of the game as they cruised to victory.
The WildCats were 24-of-63 (38.1%) from the floor and were 12-of-27 (44.4%) from behind the three-point arc. Randolph made its mark on the free throw line as it was 26-of-29 for a season-best 89.7%. The 26 made free throws are tied for third-most in team history. While New Paltz shot 23-of-68 (33.8%) overall, it was a measly 2-of-17 (11.8%) in three-point attempts.
"Really impressed by the statement our guys were able to make from the jump today," said head coach Pete Hamilton after the game. "We were very undersized and it was a point of emphasis for us coming in to embrace that and use our full court defense and ball pressure to cause discomfort. Our perimeter players did a nice job setting a tone that I think helped us get them out of rhythm for many stretches of the game."
Jerry Goodman (Suffolk, Va./Portsmouth Christian School) led the way for the WildCats with 18 points on 5-of-9 shooting which included going 4-of-8 from three-point land. Brian Smith (Dumfries, Va./C.D. Hylton) added 14 points and dished out a season-best nine assists to go along with five rebounds. Loving tallied 14 points on 5-of-7 shooting. He pulled down nine boards. Evan Makle (Dumfries, Va./Christ Chapel Academy) scored 13 points off the bench. Zach Hinton (Manassas, Va./Stonewall Jackson) added 11 points and four rebounds. Justin Dula (Taylorsville, N.C./Alexander Central) had a strong performance on the glass with seven rebounds and four blocked shots.
"Brian, CJ and Zach all hit some timely shots," said head coach Pete Hamilton. "Brian does such a nice job for us of getting a bucket or an assist when we need to turn momentum and he did that a few times tonight. 9 assists for him is great! CJ Loving really made a statement today as well. 14 points and 9 boards, 4 of which were offensive, is a huge lift for us."Â
Randolph faces Coe College tomorrow morning. Tipoff is scheduled for 10:00 am.
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