NEWPORTS NEWS, Va. -- A stellar scoring effort by Chris Astorga highlighted what turned out to be a disheartening night for the Virginia Wesleyan College Marlins on the road at The Apprentice School.
Apprentice's Builders (10-5) hit the century mark in scoring Wednesday, posting a 100-89 non-conference victory over the No. 23-ranked Marlins (7-4), who lost for the fourth consecutive game.
Astorga (Suffolk/Virginia Beach Cape Henry Collegiate) scored 32 points, hitting 10-of-21 field goals, including four triples, to top Marlin scoring. He also led VWC on the boards with 12 rebounds.
Virginia Wesleyan led most of the first half, before a 10-5 scoring spurt to close the first half gave Apprentice a 51-46 lead at halftime. The Marlins battled back to take a 61-60 lead on an Astorga free throw with 13:23 remaining in the second half, and led 64-63 following a triple by rookie Sedric Nagy (Chicago, Ill./Virginia Beach Landstown), but could not build on it.
A 9-0 Apprentice run gave the Builders a 72-64 lead at the 10 minute mark, but Virginia Wesleyan responded and pulled within an 80-77 score on a dunk by DJ Woodmore (Virginia Beach/Landstown) with 6:20 remaining to be played. It was as close as Virginia Wesleyan would get the rest of the game.
Senior Tre' Ford (Falls Church/J.E.B. Stuart)tallied 16 points for the Marlins and Woodmore finished with 14. Woodmore also contributed with nine rebounds, senior Art Crew (Williamsburg/Lafayette) finished with five assists and junior Trent Batson (Lewes, Del./Cape Henlopen) recorded three blocks.
Johnnie Ferebee (Norfolk/Granby) led Apprentice with 29 points, helped by a 10-of-12 effort from the free throw lines. Terrence Palmer (Hampton/Kecoughtan) scored 14 points and Lavontae Thomas (Chesapeake/Deep Creek) added 13 points.
Apprentice outrebounded VWC 49-39 and dominated at the free throw lines, hitting 29-of-37 attempts. VWC hit 12-of-21 freebies.
Virginia Wesleyan competes again on Saturday, Jan. 5, at 2 p.m. in Old Dominion Athletic Conference competition at Shenandoah University. --AMDG--