SALEM, Va. – Marcus Badger's jumper with 49 seconds left gave Randolph-Macon College a 57-56 win over Guilford College in the Old Dominion Athletic Conference (ODAC) Tournament quarterfinals Friday night in the Salem Civic Center. Badger also made a key block of Guilford's Josh Pittman with five seconds left to preserve the win.
With the victory, third-seeded Randolph-Macon (17-9) advances to Saturday's ODAC semifinals to play second-seeded Hampden-Sydney College, a 72-49 winner over Roanoke College earlier Friday. The sixth-seeded Quakers conclude their seventh straight winning season with an 18-9 overall record, the program's most since a 30-3 campaign in 2010.
The Quakers started the game with an 18-4 run and were in control throughout much of the game. Randolph-Macon recovered from the slow start and pulled to within 34-28 at halftime. Guilford opened the second half with another 19-10 flurry and found itself up, 53-38, with 13:41 left after a Matt McCarthy three-pointer. However, that was the Quakers' final field goal as Randolph-Macon outscored Guilford, 19-3, the rest of the way.
After Badger's basket gave Randolph-Macon its first lead of the game, the Quakers turned the ball over and fouled Joe Hassell, who missed the front end of a one-and-one free-throw with 21 seconds left. Guilford's Jake Hopkins got the rebound and the Quakers called time out.
Randolph-Macon had only three team fouls, so the Yellow Jackets repeatedly fouled Pittman soon after he caught an inbounds pass in front of his bench. Finally the Quakers got the ball to Pittman off a ball screen, but the senior's long three-pointer was partially blocked by Badger and fell into the hands of Randolph-Macon's Andre Simon with two seconds left. Simon was fouled, missed a free throw and Hopkins' final three-quarters heave as time expired was off the mark.
Randolph-Macon's Connor Sullivan led the Yellow Jackets with 12 points, eight of which came in the first half. Simon finished with 11 points and eight boards. Guilford held Lamar Giggetts to eight points on 3-of-12 field-goal shooting, but the First Team All-ODAC pick grabbed a team-high 10 rebounds. Badger finished with eight points, four assists, five steals and one important block.
Guilford's Will Freeman was nearly unstoppable inside, scoring a game-high 13 points on six-of-eight shooting from the floor. Pittman finished with 12 points, nine rebounds and five assists in his final college game and freshman Zeb Richardson added 10 points. Hopkins scored six points and collected a game-high 11 rebounds.
Pittman concludes his career with 1,497 career points, which stands 15th in school history. The three-time First Team All-ODAC selection also collected 253 career three-pointers, which stands second all time, and 312 assists, the Quakers' sixth-highest total.