WINCHESTER, Va.- The Randolph men's basketball team ended the regular season on a high note as it defeated Shenandoah 76-61 on Friday night at the Wilkins Center. With the victory, Randolph sweeps the season series from SU for the first time since 2014-15.

The Hornets had two leads all night which occurred early in the first half. SU was ahead 3-2 at 18:37 but the WildCats would go on a 19-7 run to lead 21-10 with 8:07 remaining in the half. The Randolph lead grew to 27-12 with under six minutes left. The Hornets would cut it to within nine points, 27-18, with 3:39 to play but the 'Cats would go into the locker room ahead 31-20.

The WildCats sustained their double-digit advantage for the majority of the second half of play. With a 48-33 lead and 13:05 showing on the game clock, back-to-back-to-back three points baskets by Jerry Goodman (Suffolk, Va./Portsmouth Christian School) and Brandon Schlick (Virginia Beach, Va./Greenbrier Christian Academy) blew the Randolph lead up to 24 points, 57-33, with 10:41 left to play.

The Randolph lead seemed insurmountable but Shenandoah proved otherwise as it went on a 14-0 run to make it a 68-57 contest with 2:29 left. It was 70-61 WildCats with 1:29 remaining as the Hornets tried to mount a comeback. That seemed out of reach in the end as the WildCats scored six straight points to come away with the win.

"We knew the only 100% chance we had to lock in our tournament spot was to go get a road win tonight - the guys showed up and handled business," said head coach Pete Hamilton after the game. "It wasn't always pretty and we had some stretches we need to clean up offensively but our defense created our advantage tonight and helped us finish."

Sammy Hooper (Richmond, Va./Midlothian) led Randolph with 19 points while also picking up four assists, two rebounds, and two steals. Elijah Ford (Chantilly, Va./Chantilly) added 11 points, seven rebounds, and three blocks. Those three blocks give him 33 for the season and overtakes Derrick Woods-Morrow for the single season record.

Justin Dula (Taylorsville, N.C./Alexander Central) pulled down a team-high 10 rebounds to go along with eight points and three blocks. Drew Hayden (Vinton, Va./William Byrd) scored nine points and grabbed seven rebounds. Schlick finished with eight points, four rebounds, and one assist. Goodman also had eight points on the night.

"Drew Hayden played like a senior tonight," noted Hamilton. "He got the start and was a presence on more offensive rebounds than just the ones he grabbed. He made one of the biggest plays of the night to spark our second half run when we dove on a loose ball rebound out of bounds, saved it to Brian Smith for an easy layup under our rim. Also extremely proud of Brandon Schlick. Obviously it's easy to look and say he hit two 3's but he took two charges on one of their best offensive threats at big moments in the second half. His role all season as been one of sacrifice and grit and that's a great illustration of what Brandon is all about."

Randolph shot 27-of-62 (43.5%) on the evening. The team performed well at the charity stripe as it converted 16-of-19 (84.2%) attempts. The WildCats controlled the glass with a 45-33 advantage. The 'Cats also enjoyed a 19-11 lead in second chance points and 42-34 lead in points in the paint.

The WildCats will now prepare for the ODAC Tournament that begins on Monday. Randolph sits in the ninth position and will await official word of its opponent when the season concludes tomorrow.

"We've spoken over the last 48 hours about how special it is to continue a season," said Hamilton. "The extra days we are all fighting for are sometimes the most meaningful to look back at. I'm excited to continue going to work with this group."