By Pat Coleman
D3hoops.com
VIRGINIA BEACH — Virginia Wesleyan couldn't have asked for a better script as they celebrated the grand opening of the Jane P. Batten Center by rallying from a 12-point second-half deficit to beat No. 5 Randolph-Macon 65-64.
Down 59-47 with 8:18 left in the game, the Marlins (13-9, 11-4 Old Dominion Athletic Conference) rode the back of junior backup forward Donnell Hammonds, who scored nine of his 13 points and found a pair of teammates open for 3-pointers as Virginia Wesleyan stormed into the lead with an 18-3 run and held off Randolph-Macon.
"Down the stretch, Donnell's ability to score inside gave our team a huge boost," said head coach David Macedo. "The second half is probably the best half I've seen him play."
"I pride myself on being a team player," said Hammonds, who came off the bench today after starting each of the last nine games he'd played in. "It's not who starts the game but who finishes."
Randolph-Macon had a chance to finish with 2.1 seconds remaining, but senior forward Marshall Rumney missed a pair of free throws (right) and Hammonds controlled the rebound, allowing the clock to run out. Rumney had been fouled attmempting a putback of a rushed Jamal Brunt shot in the paint with less than five seconds left.
"It wasn't Marshall's two foul shots that lost it, it was all the other ones," said Randolph-Macon head coach Mike Rhoades. His Yellow Jackets (18-4, 13-2) shot 11-for-23 from the line for the game. "You can't beat good teams when you shoot like that from the foul line."
Hammonds (left) finds James Wallace for a wide-open 3-pointer to cut the lead to 60-59 with 2:50 left. Photos by Pat Coleman, D3sports.com |
Virginia Wesleyan's run started with a Hammonds putback of a Ryan Kahle miss, then a second putback 90 seconds later of a missed 3-pointer by David Doino cut the Jackets' lead to 59-51. Kahle hit three free throws with 4:32 left to get the deficit to five points before Hammonds, trapped underneath the basket, found James Wallace near the left wing for an open 3-pointer.
Tim Smith made a pair of free throws to extend the lead back to 62-59 before Hammonds found Kahle open for a game-tying 3-pointer with 2:02 left. Kahle then picked up a loose ball and hit a layup to give the Marlins their first lead since the 11:37 mark of the first half. Mills then turned the ball over driving baseline with 36.5 seconds left, forcing Randolph-Macon to foul.
The event marked the grand opening of the Batten Center and the crowd of 900-plus, believed to be the largest at a VWC home game, got its money's worth, despite the fact that admission was free.
"If you're not up for a game like that then you shouldn't be playing college basketball," said Doino, who finished with 11 points and four assists. "Now that it's right here, it's 100 feet from everyone's rooms. It's a different atmosphere, great support."
Randolph-Macon built the 12-point lead on the strength of 58% shooting in the first half (15-for-26) and a 17-10 advantage on the boards. But as the game wore on, the Yellow Jackets moved the ball and miled the clock well, but couldn't put points on the board.
"When we were up 10, we had to put it away and we relaxed," said Rhoades. "They made some tough shots.
"We did exactly what we wanted to do coming out of timeouts but we didn't take advantage of it."
"We didn't push the panic button. We chipped away at the lead and found a way to win," said Macedo, whose Marlins have now beaten Randolph-Macon three times in four meetings in his two seasons. "They (the players) don't think it's an upset. They expect to win."
Kahle led all scorers with 16 points, including 3-for-5 from 3-point range. Hammonds added 13 for Virginia Wesleyan on a perfect 6-for-6 from the floor plus a team-high six rebounds. Ryan Stein led Randolph-Macon with 14 points, with Smith and Brunt adding nine apiece. Rumney, who finished 0-for-4 from the line, collected a game-high eight rebounds.
