LYNCHBURG, Va.- The Randolph men's basketball team hosted Washington and Lee on Wednesday night. The WildCats fell behind by double digits early in the game and rallied to close to within single digits late in the second half but ultimately fell to the Generals 92-81.
The WildCats jumped ahead of the Generals 5-0 in the first two minutes of the first half. W&L would tie and then used a 24-4 run to go ahead 27-10 with 9:35 showing on the clock. The W&L lead grew to as much as 21 points, 37-16, with 5:17 left to play. Randolph chipped away at its deficit as its 18-9 run to end the half, punctuated by a
Cole Perry (Salisbury, N.C./Jesse Carson) near full court shot at the buzzer, to get to within 12 points, 46-34, at halftime.
Randolph started off the second half on a 6-3 run to make it 49-40 at the 18:03 mark. The Generals upped their lead to 56-40 at the 15:40. Their advantage grew to 21 points, 68-47, with 11:17 remaining.
The score stood at 75-56 in W&L's favor with 9:06 left to play. Randolph's 14-3 run spanning almost four minutes of game time closed the General lead to 77-72 with 5:05 remaining. That would be as close as the 'Cats could get as Washington and Lee stayed out in front for the rest of the period.
Randolph shot 43.4% (33-of-76) from the floor and 34.6% (9-of-26) in three-point attempts. The Generals shot 54.5% (30-of-55) overall and 42.9% (9-of-21) from behind the three-point arc. W&L was also efficient from the charity stripe as it was 23-of-29 (79.3%).
Returning from a two-game absence,
Danny Bickey (Beckley, W.V./Woodrow Wilson) led the WildCats with 30 points on 12-of-25 shooting.
Kyle Ferguson (Lynchburg, Va./Heritage) added 13 points and six rebounds.
Jordan Phillips-McLoyd (Johnson City, Tenn./Science Hill) contributed 10 points. Perry finished with a team-high seven rebounds to go with six points, three assists, and two steals.
Hunter Verling (Lake Mary, Fla./Lake Mary) chipped in eight points and three rebounds.
"Really great to have Bickey back," said head coach
Pete Hamilton after the game. He's such a competitor and his activity was relentless tonight. I thought he was a bright spot in a tough night.
Kyle Ferguson continues to show great promise! His poise is awesome to see from a first-year player. He is extremely coachable in high intensity environments and his ability to score it from multiple levels can help our offense throughout his career. Was awesome to see him step into that trail three to cut it to five late. His confidence is rising and I think he has a great career ahead of him."
The WildCats host Guilford on Saturday. The Quakers are ranked #16 in the latest national poll. Game time will be 4:30 following the women's game.
