HAMPDEN-SYDNEY, VA - The #23 Hampden-Sydney Basketball team roared past Guilford College 76-52 on Saturday afternoon in ODAC action from Fleet Gymnasium. The Tigers improve to 17-2 and 9-1 in the ODAC while Guilford lost their third in a row to drop to 14-5, 6-4 ODAC. The win extended the Tigers home winning streak to 16 and move in to a tie for first place in the ODAC as Washington & Lee defeated Virginia Wesleyan in Lexington, VA.
The game was close in the very early going with the score knotted at 5-5 at the 16:55 mark. Following a H-SC timeout, Patrick Corrigan (Richmond, VA / Collegiate) scored a layup and Leon Hargrove (Raleigh, NC / Middle Creek) scored the next six points as he finished off the 8-0 run with a steal and fastbreak dunk to force a Guilford timeout. Josh Pittman tried to extinguish the Tigers streak with a three-pointer, but Corrigan and Greg Lewis (Mechanicsville, VA / Hanover) drained back-to-back shots from deep range to put the Tigers ahead 19-8, extending the Tigers run to 14-3. Hampden-Sydney continued to lead by double-digits or more and with the score setting at 31-21 with 3:42 left in the stanza, H-SC scored the last 10 points of the half to go in to intermission leading 41-21.
Guilford opened the half motivated as Pittman got free for two trifectas and Matt McCarthy drilled a jumper to trim the Hampden-Sydney lead to 41-29 at the 16:40 mark. Following a made two-point basket from both Khobi Williamson (Norfolk, VA / Maury) and Pittman, the Tigers used another big 11-3 run to put the lead back up to 20. From then on, Hampden-Sydney lead by at least 14 as Guilford never seriously threatened to win the game.
Hargrove set two new career assists in points (15) and assists (6) along with four rebounds and two steals. He made 7 of his 10 shot attempts, many off layups coming from cuts off double teams of the Tigers post players. Williamson posted 14 points, a game-high nine boards, and three blocked shots, and Harrison George (Raleigh, NC / Leesville Road) contributed 10 points and four assists. Keegan Wetzel (Mebane, NC / Eastern Alamance) scored eight points, going 2-4 from three, with six rebounds while Corrigan played a season-high 19 minutes, scoring eight points on 3-5 shooting and 2-4 from three.
Pittman totalled a game-high 24 points, making 7-of-15 shots, 5-of-11 from downtown, and 5-6 from the charity stripe. Zeb Richardson was the only other Quaker in double-digits with 10 points but often had trouble getting in position from a post-entry pass due to the lockdown defense from Williamson. Jake Hopkins led Guilford with nien caroms.
Hampden-Sydney shot just 32% from the floor and 21% from three in the first meeting in Greensboro back on January 5, but today the Tigers had no trouble making baskets, making 30-of-55 shots (54.5%), 10-of-23 (42.5%) of its three point attempts, and 6-of-8 (75%) free throws.
Guilford shot 39.1% in the previous meeting and the cold shooting continued today as the Quakers went 17-49 (34.7%) from the field, 6-23 (26.1%) from three, and 12-17 (70.6%) from the charity stripe.
H-SC held a 33-27 advantage on the boards and assisted on 21 of their 30 made baskets. A low turnover game, the Tigers had just seven giveaways compared to 10 for the Quakers. However, Hampden-Sydney often coverted those turnovers into points, scoring 15 points off turnovers. H-SC dominated the paint, recording a 32-12 edge in points in the paint and held a significant 45-6 advantage in bench points.
Hampden-Sydney will welcome the Lynchburg College Hornets to Fleet Gymnasium on Wednesday at 7 pm.