GREENSBORO, N.C.- The Randolph men's basketball team traveled back to North Carolina on Saturday to face Greensboro in non-conference action on Saturday afternoon. Danny Bickey's (Beckley, W.V./Woodrow Wilson) jump shot with 19 seconds remaining was enough to lift the WildCats to a 50-49 victory.
Randolph improves its overall record to 2-1 while the Pride drop to 0-3.
"Grind out road win," said head coach Pete Hamilton after the game. "Greensboro defends with a great toughness and that will be a great experience for us moving into league play. They weren't giving our cutters much space to operate and I think they did a great job of getting on our heels offensively. We did just enough on the offensive end to get away with this one."
The WildCats took a 2-0 lead 20 seconds into the game on a pair of free throws by Ryan Davis (Erlanger, KY/Lloyd Memorial). Greensboro edged ahead with just over 15 minutes remaining in the contest. Randolph countered with an 11-1 run, with Bickey supplying eight of the 'Cats points during the stretch to give them a 13-6 advantage. The Pride closed to within five points but Randolph's 12-3 run gave it a double-double lead, 25-12, with 4:28 showing on the game clock. The Pride got to within nine points but the WildCats went into the locker room at halftime with a 28-17 advantage.
Randolph maintained a double-double lead to start the second period but the Pride were able to make it a 37-30 contest at the 12:03 mark. Greensboro came roaring all the way back as it used an 11-2 run to lead 43-42 with 6:30 minutes left to play. A Bickey three at 5:42 gave Randolph a two-point advantage and the Pride knotted the game at 45-all at 4:52. A three by Landon Wagoner (Martinsville, Va./Carlisle School) broke the stalemate to put the WildCats ahead 48-45 with 4:30 remaining in regulation.
A free throw by the Pride's Isaiah Pruett cut the WildCat lead to two points and then 21 seconds later, Pruett's layup tied the game at 48-48. A free throw by the Pride's Tim Boulware gave Greensboro a 49-48 lead with 36 seconds remaining. After Bickey sank the game-winning basket, Greensboro had a chance to wrestle the lead away but Cole Perry (Salisbury, N.C./Jesse Carson HS) came away with a late steal. The Pride fouled to preserve time and finally Amari Gorham (Yorktown, Va./Yorktown) went to the line to shoot with seconds remaining. Gorham's attempt missed and Greensboro quickly called a timeout. The inbounds pass with 0.7 of a second remaining did not connect as Randolph walked off the floor with the victory.
Randolph shot 19-of-50 (38%) from the floor and 8-of-23 (34.8%) from behind the three-point arc. Greensboro was 19-of-47 (40.4%) overall and just 3-of-10 (30%) in three-point attempts. The Pride controlled the glass 32-27.
"Defensively I'm so proud of our group," stated Hamilton. "We came into the season with a stated goal of being a grittier more defensive minded team than last season. This was a night we needed every ounce of defense we had. We track "kills" to try and see how many times we can get three stops in a row in a game. The odds of winning skyrocket if you get to eight "kills" and we got to eight tonight. Really proud of the efforts from Ryan Davis, Amari Gorham and Dejsani Beamon on the defensive end. Amari and Davis guarded a tough cover in #3 and held him to 3 points on 1-6 shooting. Dejsani made some huge deflections and chased down a huge rebound for us down the stretch."
Bickey led Randolph with 22 points and added five rebounds and three steals. Perry grabbed a team-high 10 rebounds to go with four points. Ryan Viruso (Davidson, N.C./Hough HS) finished with nine points on the night.
"Bickey had another great run and he did it with a lot of physicality against him," noted Hamilton. "That game winner he hit was a tough one but he didn't rush and remained calm and on balance. Ryan Viruso was awesome in his role and we certainly needed those big time 3's he hit for us."
The WildCats are idle until November 26 when they host their home and ODAC opener against Bridgewater. Game time from Giles Gymnasium will be at 2:00 p.m.
