HARRISONBURG, VA --- Senior Maleke Jones (Charles Town, W.V./Washington) went the length of the court and hit the game-winning layup with 2.4 seconds left, giving the Runnin Royals an 81-80 win over visiting Lynchburg. It was Eastern Mennonite's first ODAC win of the season.
EMU's men broke a three-game skid with win and improved to 6-8 overall and 1-5 in the ODAC.
The thrilling finish to the game was a nice bookend to an incredible start, when the Runnin Royals held LC without a point for the first 3:01, going up 13-0, forcing an early Lynchburg timeout.
The Hornets (8-7/2-4 ODAC) came back with an 11-2 run of their own with the help of back-to-back three pointers to bring the margin within four at 15-11 with 14:02 left.
Maleke Jones hit a triple to bump the edge to 28-15, tying the largest lead of the half for the Royals.
From there, Lynchburg's offense kicked in and it was back and forth play for the closing minutes of the half. The Hornet's found their first lead of the game at 38-37 after hitting their ninth three pointer.
On EMU's next possession, Maleke Jones answered with a trey of his own, and from there the Royals used a 10-4 run to close out the half taking the score to 50-42.
The Runnin Royals kept the momentum going and forced three Lynchburg turnovers 2:19 into the second half, capitalizing on each of the Hornets errors.
After back and forth play and the margin no larger than four, Jerome Jones (Charles Town, W.V./Washington) drilled a three pointer at the 10:33 mark to make the score 67-62.
EMU held its edge until the 7:13 mark when Lynchburg went on top for the second time in the game, 72-71. Maleke Jones hit his fourth trey of the night to regain the lead, but after a couple of fouls and a fastbreak the Hornets were back up 78-74.
Just after the two minute mark, Sammy Thomas (Owings, Md./Northern) drew the fifth foul on LC's Logan Seacrist and headed to the line. Thomas converted on both free throws and made it a one possession game at 78-76.
Just 43 seconds later, Thomas worked a trip to the stripe yet again. After going one-for-two, the Royals trailed 80-77.
After the men forced a missed shot from the Hornets, Maleke Jones drew a foul on a three point attempt with 35 second left. He made the first two, but missed the third after an LC timeout, leaving the men down by one, 80-79.
The Royals worked for a steal before eventually fouling with just seven seconds left, but LC's Devante' Young missed the front end of a one-and-one. Maleke Jones grabbed the board and called a timeout, setting up his game-winning drive.
Eastern Mennonite was actually out-shot from the floor, 43% to 40%, and 52% to 34% from beyond the arc. The Royals made 18 free throws compared to LC's 12, however, and the men edged the Hornets in boards 42-39.
Maleke Jones led all scorers with a season high 26 points and tied his career high with nine rebounds. He also handed out four assists. Thomas exploded for a double double with 17 points and 13 rebounds. The big man also made five assists to either tie or set his career high in all three categories. Jerome Jones added 14 points.
EMU held Chance Greene, the ODAC's top third in scoring, to a seven-point game, well below his average of 17.1. Leading the way for the Hornets were Connor Schroeder and Austin Wrighten with 15 points a piece. T.C. Thacker added 14 points.
The Royals hit the road on Wednesday, playing a 7:00pm game at Shenandoah.