SALEM, Va. -- Senior Chris Teasley scored a career-high 28 points Friday to lead the top-seeded Virginia Wesleyan College Marlins to an 83-65 victory over ninth-seeded Eastern Mennonite University at the Salem Civic Center.
Teasley (Newport News/Menchville) hit a career-best 12-of-18 field goals en route to his best-ever total, eclipsing his previous scoring high of 27 points tallied in 2012 in an NCAA tournament game against Washington's Whitworth College. His effort against EMU's Royals (15-12) was part of a balaced attack for the No. 21 ranked Marlins (20-6), who finished with five players in double-figure scoring.
JuniorDJ Woodmore (Virginia Beach/Landstown) finished with 11 points and senior Tre' Ford (Falls Church/J.E.B. Stuart), junior Trent Batson (Lewes, Del./Cape Henlopen) and rookie Sedric Nady (Chicago, Ill./Viriginia Beach Landstown) all netted 10 points each. Nady hit a pair of free throws with 11:49 remaining in the first half to tie the game at 16-all and Woodmore followed seconds later with a layup that gave Virginia Wesleyan the lead for good with 10:51 on the clock.
Teasley scored 12 points in the final 10 minutes to lead Virginia Wesleyan to a 40-28 lead at halftime. Three quick points from Batson in the early minutes of the second half extended VWC's lead to 15 points, but Eastern Mennonite staged a comeback that cut the spread to two ponts with 14:29 remaining to be played. The Royals produced a 15-2 run, led by R.J. Sims (Fort Washington, Md./Friendly) with seven points. EMU was denied the tie, or the lead, when Teasley came through for the Marlins, scoring on a layup off a feed from Ford.
After a missed field layup by the Royals, Virginia Wesleyan added to its lead when Woodmore nailed a triple, giving the Marlins a 50-43 lead at the 12:27 mark of the second half. After VWC pushed out to an 11-point lead, 56-45, with 10:35 remaining to be played, Sims scored five straight points for EMU to cut the spread to six points.
The Royals were unable to get any closer the rest of the game however, as senior Chris Astorga (Suffolk/Virginia Beach Cape Henry Collegiate) and Teasley helped guided Virginia Wesleyan to a 73-60 lead with 2:14 on the clock.
Teasley tallied 10 points in the Marlins' 16-8 run. James Williams (Capitol Heights, Md./Archbishop Carroll) hit a free throw to stop the Marlins' surge, but VWC picked up again, finishing the game with a 10-4 scoring surge for its final margin of victory. Virginia Wesleyan helped itself with a productive afternoon at the free throw lines, nailing 22-of-28 attempts. Woodmore and Ford were both 4-of-4 and Nady was 5-of-6.
Batson led all VWC rebound with seven, and blocked a game-high three shots, and Ford finished with a game-high five assists. EMU, which out-rebounded VWC 41-36, was led on the boards by David Falk (Madison/ Madison) with 11.
Sims finished as the Royals' leading scorer with 18 points, hitting 7-of-10 field goal attempts, followed by Andrew Thorne (Front Royal/Skyline) with 16 points, helped by a 4-of-9 effort from three-point range. Virginia Wesleyan advances to the ODAC semifinals to face Randolph College on Saturday, Feb. 23, at 6 p.m. in Salem.
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