LYNCHBURG, Va- The Randolph men's basketball team hit the floor at Giles Gymnasium for the first time in 2022 as they hosted Eastern Mennonite in an Old Dominion Athletic Conference game on Saturday afternoon. A back and forth second half saw the visiting Royals come out on top as they defeated the WildCats 79-72.
Randolph falls to 3-8 overall and 0-3 in the conference. Eastern Mennonite improves to 5-6 overall and 3-1 in the ODAC.
"I feel sick for our guys," said head coach Pete Hamilton after the game. "It's been a heck of a 10-day stretch for us and our players have done everything asked of them to play today. This week was non-traditional to say the least, but I think our players handled it with great maturity and professionalism – every time we stepped on the floor whether it was small groups, individual workouts, film sessions, or practice I think we got better and grew in preparation for today. It is just frustrating we couldn't get this one."
Both teams went back and forth early on in the first half exchanging baskets. The Royals led 16-15 at the 12:23 mark. A 10-2 run by Randolph put the home team ahead 25-18 with 9:05 remaining in the period. A13-2 run by the Royals, however, gave the Royals a 31-27 lead with 3:10 left. The WildCats would go on to knot the contest up at 34-all with 49 ticks left but a three-point basket by EMU's Julien Hagerman with 33 seconds remaining gave Eastern Mennonite at 37-34 lead at halftime.
Randolph come out strong to start the second half. CJ Loving (Madison Heights, Va./Amherst County) scored a layup with just under 19 minutes showing on the game clock to start things off. Jerry Goodman (Suffolk, Va./Portsmouth Christian School) would be fouled outside the three-point arc and he made all three of his free throws to give the WildCats a 38-37 lead. A three –point basket by Landon Wagoner (Martinsville, Va./Carlisle School) then followed in what turned out to be a 14-3 run for Randolph. The Royals had an answer as they used a 17-0 run to grab the lead back and go up 57-48 with 11:44 remaining in the game.
Trailing 59-50 with 10:12 left to play, the WildCats used a 12-0 run to regain the lead and go ahead 62-59 with 6:22 left. Randolph held on to a 70-69 lead with 3:12 remaining in regulation. The Royals' 10-2 run was enough the take the lead for good as they would go on to claim the win.
"We were playing against one of the best guards in the conference and I thought our guys did an exceptional job of executing all different kinds of coverages to guard Tim Jones" noted Hamilton. "From 16:20 to 11:44 we fell short on those coverages and I think he's the reason they ended up winning it. That was a pivotal stretch that could have put us in the driver seat and instead had us back on our heels. EMU did a great job of getting downhill for that five minutes and really attacked us."
Overall, Eastern Mennonite shot 29-of-56 (51.8%) from the floor as Randolph was 28-of-65 (43.1%). Both teams were a percentage point difference in three-point shooting with EMU shooting 10-of-27 (37%) and the WildCats (9-of-25) 36%).
Randolph won the rebounding battle 36-33. The WildCats led 21-15 in points off turnovers, 16-8 in second chance points, and 18-13 in bench points. EMU and Randolph both had 34 points in the paint.
"We have some new offensive points of emphasis we're trying to make sure we mix in more during the second half of the season – and I think we did that well tonight," noted Hamilton. "I wish we would have been able to get to some of it more. Jerry Goodman is a great decision maker for himself and for his teammates out there. You saw that to start the game tonight and in our run to tie it back up. I'd like to see us go more through Jerry in stretches because I think his decision making can create easy looks for guys like Danny Bickey and Evan Makle as well."
Four WildCats reached double figures led by Loving's 17 points. He added five rebounds. Danny Bickey (Beckley W.V./Woodrow Wilson) and Goodman both had 16 points with Bickey adding six boards, three steals, and two assists. Jordan Phillips-McLoyd (Johnson City, Tenn./Science Hill) finished with 11 points, four rebounds, and two assists. Wagoner had a team-high eight rebounds to go with five points.
"CJ Loving was a great presence for us," said Hamilton. "His touches in the mid-area were effective and I thought his defensive presence in some of our coverages on Tim Jones was a real difference maker when we were getting stops."
Randolph's next game is Wednesday night at Hampden-Sydney. Game time will be at 7:00 p.m.
