CHESTERTOWN, MD – Hampden-Sydney sprinted out to a 56-21 halftime lead en route to opening the season with a 102-70 win over non-conference for Washington College on Saturday afternoon.
Washington College led 6-4at the 16:50 mark, but Hampden-Sydney scored the next three points to take the lead for good. A Charlie McShane layup at 15:26 made it a 9-8 Tiger lead, but didn't score again until over four minutes later after the Tigers had built up a 10+ point lead. The Tigers gradually continued to add on to their lead behind stifling defense and efficient offense. The Shoremen committed 19 first-half turnovers and shot just 5-26 (19.2%) from the field. Hampden-Sydney shot 19-29 (65.5%) from the floor for the half. Hampden-Sydney also converted at the charity stripe, making 16-of-20 (80%) of its tries. The Tigers held a 22-11 advantage on the boards and had a 22-4 edge in points off turnovers. H-SC racked up 12 first-half steals and 14 assists.
H-SC built their lead to 38 with 15:08 left in the game. The second-half proved to be much closer with Washington outscoring the Tigers 49-46 in the second frame, but the scoring came too late for the Shoremen.
Khobi Williamson (Norfolk, VA / Maury) had a game-high 20 points on 8-9 field goals and 4-4 free throw in 17 minutes while Harrison George(Raleigh, NC / Leesville) scored 18 points (8-10 FGs) in 18 minutes. Leon Hargrove (Raleigh, NC / Middle Creek) contributed 12 points, five rebounds, and four steals in just 12 minutes of action. Cam Anderson (Charlottesville, VA / Blue Ridge) added eight points and seven caroms, and Mike Murray (Norfolk, VA / Norfolk Christian) dished out a game-high eight assists. Sam Dale (Charlottesville, VA / Covenant) contributed seven points and seven rebounds, and Fletcher Lumpkin (Richmond, VA / Mills Godwin) went a perfect 4-4 from the floor to contributed nine points and four rebounds.
Hampden-Sydney shot 64.9% for the game and 25-37 from the free throw line while Washington College shot 32.6% overall and 25-34 from the free throw line. The Tigers outrebounded the Shoremen 41-25. Each team had a ton of turnovers as each gave up the ball 27 times as the Tigers had 17 steals compared to 13 for Washington. The Tigers distributed 27 assists and commanded points off turnovers (30-17), second chance points (15-9), bench points (45-23), points in the paint (62-16), and fastbreak points (19-6).
Hampden-Sydney travels to Rocky Mount, NC, on Tuesday and Wednesday for the South Region Challenge. The Tigers play Mary Washington on Tuesday at 5 pm and host North Carolina Wesleyan on Wednesday at 3 pm.