LYNCHBURG, Va. The Randolph men's basketball team hosted cross-city rival the University of Lynchburg on Wednesday evening in the ODAC opener for both teams. The Hornets broke a tie late in the first half with a run and started the second half on another run as they won 81-53 over the WildCats.
The Hornets scored the opening points of the first half to lead 3-0 but back-to-back baskets by Viktor Parson (Chesapeake, Va./Western Branch) put the WildCats up 5-3. The game would be tied twice more until the 'Cats pulled ahead 10-9 at 14:21. Lynchburg went on a 7-0 run to go up 16-10 but Randolph's 6-0 run tied the contest at 16-all with 10:34 remaining in the period. With the score tied at 18-18, the WildCats went on a brief 5-0 run to take a 23-18 lead with 8:29 showing on the game clock. The Hornets went ahead 30-25 with 3:47 on the clock and the WildCats tied it on a three-point basket by Steven Burgess Jr. (Coeur d'Alene, ID/Coeur d'Alene HS) at the 3:01 mark. That would prove to be Randolph's last basket of the period as the Hornets closed out the half on an 8-0 run to lead 38-30 at the break.
The WildCats' shooting woes continued into the second half as Lynchburg built on its lead. The Hornets started out on a 7-0 run to take a 45-30 lead with 17:02 on the clock. Trey Miller's (Virginia Beach, Va./Green Run HS) tip-in ended Randolph's scoring drought just over a minute later. Back-to-back threes by Lynchburg's Jayson Easton upped the visitor's advantage to 19 points, 51-32, with 15:38 remaining to play. The WildCats got as close as 18 points, 51-33, with under 14 minutes left but the Hornets were too much in the end as their lead dropped no lower than 23 points.
Randolph was 18-of-64 (28.1%) shooting on the night while Lynchburg was 30-of-69 (43.5%) from the field. The Hornets edged the WildCats in the rebounding battle 48-47.
Parson led the WildCats with 12 points on the night. Miller finished with 11 points and six rebounds. Elijah Cox (Galax, Va./Carroll County) added nine points, three rebounds, and two steals.
The WildCats travel to Virginia Wesleyan on Saturday. The Marlins are ranked #13 in the latest D3hoops.com poll. Game time will be at 2:00 p.m.
