SALEM, Va. – Find a way, just find a way.

That was the general thought shared by the Virginia Wesleyan College men's basketball team on Saturday as they entered the final four minutes of an Old Dominion Athletic Conference semifinal game trailing Hampden-Sydney College's Tigers by nine points.

But, the Marlins found the way, through junior Chris Astorga who scored eight consecutive points to spark a closing 13-2 run for Virginia Wesleyan en route to a thrilling 67-65 victory at the Civic Center.  VWC (24-3) advances to the ODAC title game for the seventh time overall and sixth time in the last nine seasons and will play Sunday at 3 p.m. against the winner of Saturday's second contest between Randolph College and Randolph-Macon College.

"Our guys found a way to win a game we very easily could have lost," said 2012 ODAC Coach of the Year Dave Macedo.  "We really didn't play a good game, but the guys kept at it, they kept on playing and good things started to happen."

Astorga (Suffolk, Va./Virginia Beach Cape Henry Collegiate) contributed to those good things with his string of points that helped wipe out H-SC's lead.  The Tigers (19-8) missed five consecutive shots during Astorga's run and six in a span of a little more than three minutes before Harrison George (Raleigh, N.C./Leesville) scored on a layup with 38 seconds remaining.

But, Virginia Wesleyan had surged into the lead at that point as ODAC Player of the Year D.J. Woodmore (Virginia Beach/Landstown) hit a jumper to put the Marlins in front 64-63 and junior Chris Teasley (Newport News, Va./Menchville) rolled in on a layup seconds later to make it a 66-63 VWC lead with 52 seconds on the clock.

After George trimmed the lead to one with 38 seconds on the clock, the Marlins worked the ball, and the clock, until senior Donald Vaughn (Woodbridge, Va./Dumfries Potomac) drew a foul making a move from the right corner. With four seconds remaining in the game, Vaughn hit the second of the two-shot foul to make it a 67-65 Marlin lead.

H-SC (19-8) had the ball for the final seconds, but had their advance toward by the basket halted by a harmless VWC foul near midcourt.  The Tigers got the ball back with two seconds on the clock and Ben Jesse (Midlothian, Va./Cosby) took a few steps to the left and fired a long three-point attempt that missed the mark and gave Virginia Wesleyan its third victory over H-SC this season, including a pair of two-pointers.

The teams battled through an intense first half that seven tie scores before Virginia Wesleyan opened up a 27-22 lead on scoring from junior Tre' Ford (Falls Church, Va./J.E.B. Stuart) and Vaughn.  Khobi Williamson (Norfolk, Va./Maury) and George brought the Tigers back shortly thereafter however, and the teams played evenly to the halftime buzzer.  The half ended with its 11th tie score at 34-all on a Ford jumper.

VWC, which hit only 32% from the field in the first half, continued to have shooting problems in the second half as H-SC took the lead on a score by Ru White (Chesterfield, Va./Allegany) and gradually built up a 56-46 lead with 8:17 remaining in the game.  Virginia Wesleyan cut it back to 56-51 a couple minutes later, before Jesse hit a timely triple to help push H-SC out to a 61-52 lead with 4:50 on the clock.

George hit a jumper to keep the spread at nine points, 63-54, entering the final 4:05, which a layup by Astorga started to turn momentum in favor of the Marlins for the remainder of the game. 

While Virginia Wesleyan finished hitting only 32.8% from the floor, the Marlins were able to draw fouls in the second half and nailed 14-of-22 free throws.  VWC hit 23-of-33 overall, led by Vaughn's 6-of-10 and Astorga's 5-of-7.  Hampden-Sydney hit 12-of-20 overall.

Astorga, who had seven points at halftime, finished as the game's leading scorer with 20.  Ford added 15, hitting 5-of-9 field goal attempts, Teasley contributed with 14, and Woodmore tallied 10.  Vaughn also blocked a game-high four shots, including two big blocks in the final four minutes.  Astorga led the Marlins on the backboards with nine rebounds.

George led H-SC with 17 points and nine rebounds.  Williamson, who hit 5-of-5 shots, tallied 14 shots, and White finished with 12.

--AMDG--