ROCKY MOUNT, NC – The #25 Hampden-Sydney Basketball team scored the first basket of the contest and lead the rest of the contest on their way to an 86-62 rout of Mary Washington University in the first game of the Fifth Annual South Region Challenge on the campus of North Carolina Wesleyan University.
The Tigers wasted no time establishing who the superior team was on the court, sprinting out to a 13-2 lead just 4:31 into the contest behind baskets from five different Tigers. The Eagles scored seven of the next nine points to make it a 15-9 H-SC lead at 12:18, but H-SC went on a 9-2 run over the next three minutes to take a 13-point lead (24-11) at the 9:38 mark. Mary Washington stormed back, utilizing a 10-0 run over four minutes to trim the lead down to just 24-21 with 5:41 left in the half. Hampden-Sydney bucked down on defense for the remainder of the half, limiting Mary Washington to just seven points while scoring 15 of their own to go into half-time up 39-28.
Kodie Critzer (Charlottesville, VA / St. Anne's-Belfield) scored a team-best 10 points in the first-half, going 4-7 overall and 2-5 from three-point range. Cam Anderson (Charlottesville, VA / Blue Ridge) chipped in with nine points in the first frame while Khobi Williamson (Norfolk, VA / Maury) added eight points. Jamie Richardson tacked on 10 points to lead Mary Washington in the opening stanza, and John Yoxthimer added seven points. The Tigers shot 50% overall (16-32) while Mary Washington was 36% (9-25). The Eagles had 13 turnovers compared to just eight for the Tigers.
The first six minutes after half-time were back and forth with the Tigers lead fluctuating between eight and fifteen points. With the game at 50-40 at the 13:20 mark, Hampden-Sydney scored the next 12 points to take a commanding 62-40 lead with 10:25 remaining in the contest. H-SC continued to lead by 20, 69-49, with 7:33 left, but eight straight points from the Eagles cut their deficit down to 69-57 with 5:39 to go. With the lead still sitting at 12, 73-61 with four minutes remaining, the Tigers defense locked up Mary Washington while the offense continued clicking with Hampden-Sydney ending the contest on a 13-1 spurt.
Anderson posted a career-high 21 points and was nearly flawless shooting, going 8-9 overall, 1-1 from three point range, and 4-5 from the free throw line. The three pointer was his first career made three. Anderson also contributed with seven rebounds, three blocks, and two assists in 24 minutes. Harrison George (Raleigh, NC / Leesville) also went 8-9 shooting to finish with 19 points along with six rebounds and four blocks. Williamson made six of his nine field goal attempts to add on 12 points while contributed with 10 points, all coming in the first half. Leon Hargrove (Raleigh, NC / Middle Creek) grabbed a team and career-high eight rebounds and dished out four assists with two steals.Patrick Corrigan (Richmond, VA / Collegiate) shot 3-4 from the field and 2-3 from three range to tack on eight points, four assists, and two thefts.
Bradley Reister scored a team-high 16 points for Mary Washington but shot just 5-14 with five turnovers. Lamont Fields added 10 points while Taylor Johnson had nine points, eight boards, and four turnovers.
The Tigers shot 35-64 (54.7%) and made 7-21 (33.3%) from three point range while limiting the Eagles to a 21-59 (35.6%) shooting performance. Hampden-Sydney forced 23 Eagle turnovers while committing only 16. Hampden-Sydney held big advantages in points off turnovers (23-15), second chance points (16-7), points in the paint (48-28), fastbreak points (14-8), and bench points (40-30).
Hampden-Sydney squares off tomorrow at 3 pm against the host Battling Bishops of North Carolina Wesleyan in second day action in the South Region Challenge.