LYNCHBURG, Va.- The Randolph men's basketball team hosted one of the top teams in the Old Dominion Athletic Conference as Virginia Wesleyan came to Giles Gymnasium on Wednesday evening. The WIldCats held their own against the Marlins all game but fell just short in the end as VWU won 74-72.
Randolph's overall record drops to 6-17 overall and 3-12 in the ODAC. Virginia Wesleyan improves to 15-9 overall and 11-4 in the conference.
The WIldCats found themselves down 10-4 less than 16 minutes left in the period but would tie the game at 10-10 on back-to-back three-point baskets by Jerry Goodman (Suffolk, Va./Portsmouth Christian School). The Marlins pushed their lead up to 26-15 with 10:33 left to play in the period. A 19-7 run by the WildCats brought Randolph all the back and with a lead, 35-33, with 2:22 on the clock. The game would eventually be tied 37-37 at halftime.
The Marlins came out with a 9-2 run to begin the second half and went up 46-39. Trailing 51-46 with 12:47 showing on the clock, an 8-0 WildCat run gave the home team a 54-51 lead. Virginia Wesleyan came back to wrestle the lead away and the WildCats played catch up for the remainder of the half.
Randolph was down by as much as 11 points, 71-60, with five minutes remaining in regulation. A 12-1 run by the WildCats narrowed the deficit to one point, 73-72, with 10 seconds left. A foul put the Marlins' Tim Fisher on the free throw line. He missed the first and made his second free throw attempt and the WildCats had a chance to tie or win the game. The inbound pass made its way to CJ Loving (Madison Heights, Va./Amherst County) whose attempted three-point shot fell short as the horn sounded to end the game.
"Proud of the effort tonight," said head coach Pete Hamilton after the game. "Our guys got tested a bunch and responded to every single one of them. A few execution errors kind of bit us in the end. We certainly had our chances – which is all you can ask for in a tough league game."
The WildCats shot the ball well as they were 27-of-52 (51.9%) overall and 7-of-17 (41.2%) from behind the three-point arc. Randolph was 11-of-15 (73.3%) from the charity stripe. Total rebounds were in the Marlins' favor only slightly 34-32.
For the second straight game, Jordan Phillips-McLoyd (Johnson City, Tenn./Science Hill) led all scorers this time with 21 points on 7-of-15 shooting. He dished out six assists and grabbed three bounds. Danny Bickey (Beckley, W.V./Woodrow Wilson) added 12 points, six rebounds, and two assists. Goodman finished with 10 points and six assists. Joseph Peters (Forest, Va./Jefferson Forest) contributed eight points. Cole Perry (Salisbury, N.C./Jesse Carson) pulled down a game-high nine rebounds.
"Jordan and Jerry really set the tone for us offensively," noted Hamilton. "Jordan hit some tough ones and then was able to capitalize when Virginia Wesleyan was chasing him around with some takes to the rim as well. When he gets it going, our guys do a nice job of realizing to keep running actions for him. Jerry handled pressure well all night. Six assists and two turnovers is a great game for a 31 minute effort at the point against Virginia Wesleyan. Really proud of the minutes our freshmen bigs gave us off the bench. Joe and Hunter (Verling) battled against one of the best players in the league down in the lane and also gave us a boost offensively in stretches. Combining 6-6 from the floor and really giving us a presence in the lane made a huge difference for us."
Randolph concludes the regular season this coming Saturday afternoon as it hosts Washington and Lee on Senior Day. Game time will be at 2:00 p.m.
"We'd really like to again thank all the Faculty and Staff across the Randolph campus, said Hamilton. "It is special to see all the support we consistently get in the stands from our community and our guys are appreciative of everyone's efforts to enhance each of their experiences here at Randolph. I wish they could have seen a win tonight but they saw a heck of an effort from our guys."
