LEXINGTON, Va. -- The Washington and Lee men's basketball team hade five players score in double figures and the Generals turned in a dominant performance on the boards in defeating No. 21 Randolph-Macon, 78-56, on Saturday afternoon at the Warner Center.
W&L (12-9, 5-7) turned in one of its most complete games of the year in halting the Yellow Jackets' (17-4, 10-3) 11-game win streak. The Generals limited R-MC to 29.6 percent (16-54) shooting, while shooting better than 50.0 percent (.506, 27-53) themselves. W&L also out-rebounded R-MC, 43-25, and never trailed in posting a win over a ranked opponent for the fourth season in a row.
The Blue and White opened the contest scoring six of the first eight points to assume a 6-2 lead at the 16:13 mark. A three-pointer by R-MC senior guard Zach Desgain (Richmond, Va./J.R. Tucker) pulled the Yellow Jackets to within a single point (6-5), but was answered by a 13-6 W&L scoring run that gave the Generals a 19-11 lead at the 9:00 mark. Junior forward Jeremy Adkins (Huntington, W. Va./Spring Valley) scored seven points for the Generals during the run.
After Randolph-Macon made the score 21-14 just over a minute later, W&L answered with a 10-0 spurt to take a 17-point lead (31-14) by the 3:28 mark. Junior forward J.D. Ey (Charlotte, N.C./Myers Park) scored six points to fuel this second W&L scoring outburst.
The Generals would lead by as many as 20 points late in the first half before four straight points from the Yellow Jackets in the final minute of the opening period made it a 37-21 game at the break.
R-MC shot just 19.2 percent (5-26) in the first half and Ey recorded more rebounds himself (14) than the Yellow Jackets did as a team (12) in the opening stanza.
The two teams traded baskets over the first three minutes of the first half before R-MC used a 12-3 scoring run over a 4:15 span to get its deficit under double digits (47-38) for the first time since midway through the first half.
Washington and Lee had another answer however, using a 16-6 run to push its lead back out to 19 points (63-44) by the 7:25 mark and essentially put the game away. Dunks by Ey and sophomore forward Larry Whitaker (Bartlett, Ill./Bartlett) highlighted the spurt in which W&L made 6-of-8 shots from the floor and all four of its free throws.
The Generals held at least a 14-point lead the remainder of the contest in snapping what had been a two-game skid.
First-year guard Javon McDonald (Schaumburg, Ill./Schaumburg) led all scorers with 16 points. Ey recorded his league-leading seventh double double of the season with 14 points and 17 rebounds. Adkins also finished with 14 points, Whitaker chipped in 11 and sophomore guard Kevin Gill (Richmond, Va./Benedictine) contributed 10 markers off the bench. Whitaker also grabbed seven boards for the Generals and Ey notched four assists, three blocks and a pair of steals.
First-year guard Marcus Badger (Plymouth, Pa./Plymouth-Whitemarsh) led the Yellow Jackets with 14 points, including 6-of-6 shooting from the line. Sophomore forward Andre Simon (Newport News, Va./Menchville) added 12 points off the bench and Desgain had 10 points. Senior guard Calvin Croskey (Manassas, Va./Osburn Park) tossed in seven points and had four steals.
The Generals return to the court on Wednesday when they travel to Guilford for a 7:00 pm game.
--GENERALS--