HARRISONBURG, VA --- Even though nothing was officially was on the line, the EMU basketball men didn't play that way Saturday night. With ODAC Tournament seeding already locked into place, the Runnin Royals fought past Emory & Henry 84-75 to wrap up the regular season in Yoder Arena. The teams will get a rematch Tuesday night in the First Round of the ODAC Tournament.
Eastern Mennonite (15-10/10-6 ODAC) claims the No. 5 seed as one of the hottest teams in the Old Dominion Athletic Conference, winners of four in a row and five of their last six. Included in that stretch were wins over Randolph-Macon and Virginia Wesleyan, the top two teams in the final conference standings. The Wasps (4-21/2-14 ODAC) settle at the No. 12 spot, and come back to Harrisonburg for the right to advance to the quarterfinals at the Salem Civic Center.
All ODAC Tournament games in Salem will have live stats and be streamed via ODAC.tv. The new, web streaming outlet of the conference will provide viewers with features including full HD, multi-camera broadcasts with professional graphics and production, and player and coach interviews and features. Be sure to check out the website for features and pay-per-view options before game time of EMU's contests.
Click here for the ODAC Basketball Tournament home page, which includes the full tournament bracket.
Playing as good of ball as they have all year, the feisty Emory & Henry men took a quick 8-3 lead and traded barbs with EMU.
After six ties and 11 lead changes in the first half, the Royals held E&H at bay the entire second. The Wasps made numerous jabs at the lead, getting within one a handful of times. Malcolm Green got the visitors within 74-73 with 2:36 to play, but David Falk (Madison, Va./Madison County) had the answer.
EMU's big man scored five straight points in the span of 25 seconds, dunking an offensive rebound and stealing the ball at midcourt before patiently converting a three-point play to push the lead back up to 79-73 with 1:46 left. After a free throw from Marcel Crump (Richmond, Va./Highland Springs), Falk added another dunk to cap an 8-0 run to basically ice the game at 82-73.
Falk notched his 15th double double, coming in with game highs of 22 points, 13 rebounds and seven blocked shots. His seven swats also helped him break the EMU program record for blocks in a season, giving him 80. Randy Franklin had held one of the EMU's oldest records with 76 blocks in 1976-77.
RJ Sims (Fort Washington, Md./Friendly) totaled 16 points on just six field goal attempts, giving him an efficient game on a senior night honoring him. Crump was good for 15 points and nine boards, including this acrobatic drive and dunk from the left baseline:
Green had 18 points and four steals for Emory & Henry, while Charles Smith also scored 18. Ryan Gravely hit three triples and finished with 13 points and five assists.
Start time of the rematch in the ODAC First Round game on Tuesday is at 7:00pm.