VIRGINIA BEACH -- Emory & Henry College's Wasps have a history of being a thorn in the side of the Virginia Wesleyan College Marlins.

But, when Emory & Henry started to stick it to the Marlins on Saturday at the Jane P. Batten Student Center, Virginia Wesleyan swatted the Wasps away.  After a jumper by Armando Murrell (Brooklyn, N.Y./Globe Institute of Technology) extended an E&H rally to pull the Wasps with a 38-34 score, Virginia Wesleyan answered with a decisive 11-0 run that kept the host Marlins rolling the rest of the way.

Virginia Wesleyan head coach Dave Macedo turned to his bench often in the second half and played 16 Marlins who contributed to an 86-63 Old Dominion Athletic Conference victory in the VWC Athletic Hall of Fame Game.  Five new inductees, including basketball standout Brandon Adair and the 2005-06 national championship team, were introduced to the crowd at halftime.

The victory improved VWC's overall record to 14-6 and its ODAC mark to 10-2, keeping the Marlins just one game behind league-leader Hampden-Sydney College. It was also VWC's sixth consecutive over Emory & Henry and improved Virginia Wesleyan's overall record against the Wasps to 29-20 in a series that began in 1976.

Four players scored in the run that created separation between the Marlins and Wasps. But impressive defensive play sparked it all as senior Tre' Ford (Falls Church/J.E.B. Stuart) came up with four steals in a span of only 60 seconds to leave the Wasps reeling.  All four steals produced Virginia Wesleyan points, including a triple from senior Chris Astorga (Suffolk/Virginia Beach Cape Henry Collegiate) off an assist from junior DJ Woodmore (Virginia Beach/Landstown).

Emory & Henry (4-15, 2-10) managed to cut the spread to 11 at 49-38, but Virginia Wesleyan followed with a 13-6 scoring surge to open up a 62-44 lead lead with 9:41 remaining in the contest.  Astorga led the Marlins with seven points.

Emory & Henry moved back within 14 points several times in the ensuing minutes, but could not build on it.  After Tryler Driver (Alexandria/T.C. Williams) hit a jumper to pull the Wasps within a 69-55 score, Virginia Wesleyan used an 11-4 run to push out to an 80-59 advantage. 

Some of the loudest crowd reaction in the game happened in the waning minutes as sophomore Nigel Jenkins (Colonial Beach/Washington Lee) scored his first intercollegiate basket and rookie Tre' Jones (Fredericksburg/Massaponax) tallied a season-high six points in the final 1:36 of the game.

Astorga led all scoring with 24 points, hitting 9-of-19 field goal attempts.  Woodmore finished with 11 points and Ford finished with 10 points and a season-high six steals, the latter tying the fourth highest single-game total in VWC history.  His six thefts improved his career total to 160, moving him into the No. 2 spot among the Marlins' all-time greats.

Virginia Wesleyan helped itself by outrebounding Emory & Henry 46-34, led by Woodmore with seven.  He also finished with a team-leading four assists.

Charles Smith (Fayetteville, N.C./Fayetteville Academy) led Emory & Henry with 12 points, hitting 6-of-8 field goal attempts.  Murrell followed with 11 points.  Driver scored seven points, but led the Wasps with eight rebounds.

Virginia Wesleyan competes again on Monday, Feb. 4 in non-conference competition at nationally-ranked Christopher Newport University.  Game time is set for 7:30 p.m.

--AMDG--