VIRGINIA BEACH -- A rare winter snow storm that dumped up to five inches of snow on the Virginia Wesleyan College campus did little to hold back a large, noisy crowd that saw the No. 10 Marlins knock off Hampden-Sydney College's Tigers 68-58.
The victory, was VWC's eighth in a row over H-SC, improved the Marlins' current record to 20-4, giving the program a sixth straight 20+ win season and 11th in the past 12 years. The Marlins improved to 12-3 in the Old Dominion Athletic Conference, locking down the No. 2 seed entering the conference tournament next week.
A crowd 1,107 filled most of the seats at the Jane P. Batten Student Center where the took the lead for good on a three-point shot by junior Nick Doyle (Franklin/Southampton) at 22-21 with 7:32 remaining to be played in the first half. Senior Cam Owens (Centreville/Centreville) followed with another triple and Brandon Mitchell (Albany, Ga./Westover) scored on a layup to electrify the crowd and keep the Marlins pulling away.
Sophomore Tim Jones (Richmond/Henrico) and senior Breven Lyons (Newport News/Warwick) added triples in the last 4:47 of the half as VWC built a 35-25 lead. But, H-SC counted with a couple timely threes from Jake Duncan (Williamsburg/Williamsburg Christian) and Mitch Owens (Williamsburg/Walsingham) to cut the Virginia Wesleyan lead to 35-33 at halftime.
It never got that close again as Montgomery, Jones, Doyle and Lyons all scored big baskets in the first six minutes of the second half to help the Marlins pull out to a 46-37 lead. But, every time the Tigers (14-10, 7-8) made any kind of run to chip away at the lead, Virginia Wesleyan answered with a bigger scoring surge to stay in front.
Three-point shooting was once again a boost for the Marlins, who hit 12-of-35 triple attempts. VWC has won 88-of-104 games, including 25 in a row, when the Marlins hit 10 or more triples. Owens led the long-range effort with a 5-of-9 showing, while Lyons and Doyle both hit three each.
Virginia Wesleyan also helped its cause by controlling the backboards, outrebounding the Tigers 42-35. Montgomery led the effort with 13 rebounds, including 11 off the offensive glass. Kaelin Poe (Greensboro, N.C./Hampton Kecoughtan, Va.) added nine rebounds.
Owens led all scoring with 19 points overall, hitting 6-of-10 field goal attempts. Jones contributed with 14 points and Doyle tallied 13.
Duncan paced H-SC with 16 points, including a 4-of-6 showing from three-point range. Mike Murray (Norfolk/Norfolk Christian) tallied 10 points to round out the Tigers' double-figure scorers. Murray also led his team with seven rebounds and he recorded a game-high six assists.
Virginia Wesleyan closes the regular season on Saturday, Feb. 21, hosting the Guilford College Quakers at 4:30 p.m. in the annual Senior Day game.
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