SALEM, Va.- The Randolph men's basketball team faced off against Roanoke on Saturday afternoon at the Cregger Center. The WildCats cut their double-digit deficit to single digits late in the second half but the Maroons were able to withstand the Randolph rally and win 79-53.

It was 12-6 Roanoke at the 16:33 mark of the first half. The Maroons then went on a 13-4 run to lead 25-10 at 11:36. The RC lead increased to 18 points, 31-13, with 8:50 remaining in the period. Randolph used a 10-2 run to close to within 10 points, 33-23, with under four minutes remaining in the half. Roanoke went on a 10-2 run of its own to close out the first half and lead 43-25 at the break.

Early in the second half, the Maroon lead grew to 22 points, 47-25, less than a minute into the period. The WildCats began chipping away at their deficit. A 19-5 Randolph run made it an eight-point contest, 52-44, with 14:02 remaining to play.

After Roanoke brought its lead up to 13 points, the WildCats again fought back to close to within six points, 59-53, with 8:06 left to play. That would be as close as Randolph could get as the Maroons closed the game out with a 20-0 run.

Randolph shot 19-of-56 (33.9%) overall and 7-of-25 (28%) from behind the three-point arc. Roanoke led in rebounds 42-35.

"Really struggled with our defensive plan in the first half," said head coach Pete Hamilton. "Those guys are extremely physical and skilled scoring in the lane off posts and drives and we just didn't have great execution in trying to crowd and double at times. I think two Roanoke threes early made us hesitant but they only made three threes in the first half." 

Danny Bickey (Beckley, W.V./Woodrow Wilson) led Randolph with nine points. Rayvon Graham (Lynchburg, Va./E.C. Glass) and Evan Wiehe (Northfield, OH/Nordonia) both scored eight points each. Landon Wagoner (Martinsville, Va./Carlisle School) also scored eight points to go with five rebounds and three blocked shots.

The WildCats return home to host current #1 Hampden-Sydney on Wednesday. Game time from Giles Gymnasium with be at 5:00 p.m.

"We need to keep trying to figure out consistently offensively," noted Hamilton. "It's tough to find rhythm right now for us and it's something we've got to keep looking at."