LYNCHBURG, Va.- The Randolph men's basketball team hosted #16 ranked Guilford on Saturday afternoon at Giles Gymnasium. The WildCats rallied from a double-digit deficit in the second half but fell short as the Quakers won by the final score of 71-63.
Guilford started the first half on fire as they led 11-0 at the 15:06 mark. The Quaker lead expanded to 15 points, 31-16, with 5:26 remaining in the period. The GC lead stood at 40-27 at halftime.
In the second half, the Quakers still held on to their double-digit advantage. With the score standing at 50-37 at the 13:31 mark, Randolph closed their deficit to eight points, 51-43, after a three-point basket by
Danny Bickey (Beckley, W.V./Woodrow Wilson) with under 10 minutes remaining in regulation. The Quakers pushed their advantage to 17 points, 62-45, with 6:01 left.
A 14-4 Randolph run closed the gap to seven points, 66-59, with a minute left. The WildCats were able to make it a two-possession contest, 69-63, with 22 ticks remaining. Guilford made two free throws and
Jordan Phillips-McLoyd (Johnson City, Tenn./Science Hill) missed a three pointer with time winding down as the Quakers came away with the victory.
"Loved the fight we had after the first 10 minutes of the game," said head coach
Pete Hamilton. "Unfortunately, I think we struggled with our activity and urgency defensively to start the game and Guilford really made us pay."
The WildCats shot 22-of-58 (37.9%) from the floor and were 9-of-25 (36%) from behind the three-point arc. The 'Cats also were 10-of-13 from the charity stripe. Guilford was 24-of-63 (38.1%) and 11-of-24 (45.8%) and were 12-of-20 in free throw attempts.
"On the flip side, we held those guys to 29% shooting in the second half and really showed some grit offensively against an extremely physical defense," Hamilton noted. "We gave ourselves a chance late. Thought Joe did a nice job getting back from injury. He made his presence felt in his minutes in the lane."
Jerry Goodman (Suffolk, Va./Portsmouth Christian School) led Randolph with 16 points. Bickey added 12 points to go with three rebounds, two assists, and one steal. Phillips-McLoyd chipped in 10 points and four rebounds.
Landon Wagoner (Martinsville, Va./Carlisle School) pulled down a team-high eight rebounds.
Randolph is idle until next Saturday when it hosts Bridgewater in its regular season home finale. Game time will be at 2:00 p.m.
