For immediate release – 2/28/2014 – #229
Hornets drop ODAC Quarterfinal 93-81 to EMU
SALEM, VA – The fourth-seeded Lynchburg College men's basketball team lost 93-81 in the Old Dominion Athletic Conference (ODAC) Quarterfinals against the fifth-seeded Eastern Mennonite University on Friday.
The Royals had an early four-point lead, which Gary Boone II cut to two after nailing a jump shot at 16:19. The Hornets then hit one of three dry spells that plagued them in the first half.
LC failed to score for over three minutes until AJ Hamilton hit a free throw at 13:04, which was shortly followed by an Omar Kemp layup. However, the stout Lynchburg defense held EMU at bay during this stretch, as the lead remained at two after the Kemp bucket. However, the next spell would not be the same.
Over the next six minutes, Eastern Mennonite outscored the Hornets 19-2 to take a commanding 30-11 lead, with David Falk and Ryan Yates scoring five and six points respectively during that time. Over the next two minutes, Lynchburg scored 10 straight points, with Alex Graves scoring the first six in that span, which cut the Royal advantage to nine. But the Hornets would not score again until seven seconds left in the half as Manny Hernandez hit a jump shot. EMU entered intermission with a 41-23 lead.
The second half was a back and forth affair, with the Eastern Mennonite lead fluctuating between 12 and 20 points with the Hornets cutting the lead to just 12 points at 8:46 remaining after a Hernandez made free throw. The Royals responded with a jump shot by Yates and a layup by Marcel Crump to put the advantage back to 16.
The Hornets made a few runs toward the end of the game cutting the lead to 11 points with 1:30 left on the clock, but the time would run out.
The Royals finished the game shooting 49.1% for the game compared to just 35.7 for LC. EMU also shot 32-53 from the charity stripe against only 18-24 for the Hornets.
Hernandez, in his final game for Lynchburg, had a team-high 27 points and 11 rebounds to record his first-career double-double. Graves also notched a double-double for LC as he tallied 20 points and 12 caroms.
Falk and Yates led Eastern Mennonite (17-10 overall) with career-days. Falk set the ODAC single-game record with 28 rebounds, and he also chipped in 16 points. Yates tallied a game-high 34 points including setting the tournament record for most free throws in a game, with 18. EMU will take on eighth-seeded Hampden-Sydney College in an ODAC semifinal tomorrow night, after the Tigers upset top-seeded Randolph-Macon College.
With the loss, Lynchburg finished the season with an overall record of 17-9, finishing at 10-6 in the conference. The fourth-place finish was the highest the team has finished in the league in over 20 years.