HARRISONBURG, VA --- It took a bit for the Royals to get running Wednesday night, but they finished the night with a 71-53 win over visiting Shenandoah University. With their largest margin of victory of the year, Eastern Mennonite's men improve to 13-5 overall and 6-3 in the ODAC.
EMU had an uninspired start to the game, being locked in a 19-19 tie against the ODAC's last place team with 7:37 left to play in the first. But the men turned on the defense, holding the Hornets to just one point over the next 7:29. The defense led to a 14-1 run, which helped the men go into halftime with a comfortable 36-23 lead.
David Falk (Madison, Va./Madison County) opened the second half scoring with a free throw, but Shenandoah then scored 12 unanswered points to slice the lead down to two at 37-35. The Royals scored six straight to rebuild a small cushion, but SU returned with a 6-0 run of their own.
Finally an EJ Baltimore (Bristow, Va./Patriot) three pointer, just EMU's second bomb of the game, triggered a decisive run. The men exploded on a 12-0 streak, capped by a bang bang sequence of Falk hammering a dunk and Ryan Yates (Alexandria, Va./T.C. Williams) stealing the inbounds pass and laying it in to push the lead to 55-41.
Shenandoah tried to steady the ship with a three-point play, but Falk sealed the decision. After EMU's big man grabbed an offensive board and hit a jumper to make it 57-44, he picked out a steal, charged down the court and was yanked down by an SU defender. The officials whistled a flagrant foul, giving Falk two free throws, which he made, and the Royals the ball back. Woody Furbush (Bridgeton, N.J./Salem) added a layup on a nice interior pass from Yates, and the Runnin Royals blew the lead to 61-44 with 6:04 to go.
The margin got no closer than 13 points the rest of the way as EMU cruised to the win.
The Royals out-shot SU 48% to 30%, and took care of the defensive boards to win the rebounding battle, 46-36.
Falk finished with 16 points, 15 rebounds and three blocked shots. Marcel Crump (Richmond, Va./Highland Springs) came in with 17 points and three assists while Yates had 13 points, six rebounds and a game high four assists.
Malcolm Clark topped Shenandoah with 18 points, but the men hassled him into 6-19 shooting. Xavier Alston charted 12 rebounds, eight points and three blocks.
The win gives Eastern Mennonite a firm grasp on fourth place in the ODAC. They are now two games ahead of a five-way tie for fifth place. Both Virginia Wesleyan and Guilford sit one game ahead of the Royals at 7-2 in league play.
The Royals now enter the toughest stretch of their schedule with three road games against upper tier ODAC teams. The men play at Guilford this Saturday afternoon at 4:00pm, followed by road dates at first place Randolph-Macon and Lynchburg. That road stretch ends with a hosting of nationally ranked Virginia Wesleyan on Feb. 11.