HARRISONBURG, VA --- The EMU men have plenty to be thankful for as they head into the Thanksgiving Break on the heels of a 101-79 win over Frostburg State Tuesday night. The Runnin Royals rode a strong close to the first half to 64 points in the second and improved to 3-0 on the young season.
The visiting Bobcats took advantage of cold EMU shooting to start the game with a 10-3 lead. But Eastern Mennonite struck a 9-4 run over a two-minute span to close the gap to two points.
With seven minutes to play in the first half, the score was tied at 20-20. The Runnin Royals then turned on their defense, which fed their transition game, and turned into a game-changing 17-4 run to go up 37-24. FSU scored the next four to settle the halftime score at 37-28.
The Bobcats hung around in the second, getting within 47-43 before they ran out of gas. Eastern Mennonite fired on all cylinders for the next 12 minutes, and rode a 44-23 surge to a 91-66 lead before the regulars headed to the bench.
The Runnin Royals hit on 47% of their shots and showed off their recent work in the gym by going 30-40 from the free throw line. The men made up for shooting only 3-for-22 from long range by grabbing 22 offensive rebounds and holding a 50-34 edge on the glass. FSU shot 40% from the floor and was 23-30 from the charity stripe.
Senior Andrew Thorne (Front Royal, VA/Skyline) led the charge. He dumped in 25 points, missing his career high by one, and broke his career best with 12 rebounds. Six of his boards were on the offensive end. Thorne also had a team high three assists.
Three other Royals scored in double figures, led by 11 from Owen Longacre (Telford, PA/Christopher Dock). R.J. Sims (Fort Washington, MD/Friendly) had 10 points, and tied his career high with five steals. Freshman Mike Richardson (Harrisonburg, VA/Broadway) made an impact with his 10 points, getting to the line for 6-of-7 free throw attempts.
David Falk (Madison, VA/Madison) added nine points, six rebounds and two blocked shots, while Ryan Yates (Alexandria, VA/T.C. Williams) had seven boards. Rashad Chambers (Covington, VA/Alleghany) dumped in eight points in just six minutes of work.
The men wrap up their season-opening four-game home stand this Sunday, playing Marymount University at 3:00pm in Yoder Arena.