SALEM, VA --- No. 1 Randolph-Macon controlled the final minutes of the first half in Saturday's ODAC Semifinal game, and made the stretch stick as they ended Eastern Mennonite's season, 67-57. After leading by 10 early in the game, it was a disappointing end for the senior-laded Runnin Royals as they close the year with a record of 17-10.
EMU came out ready to challenge the nation's top-ranked team, scoring the first six points. RaShawn Latimer (Warrenton, Va./Kettle Run) later hit a three pointer to cap a 10-0 run, blowing open a 16-5 lead just nine minutes into play.
Randolph-Macon settled down, but the lead was still in double figures at 20-10 after an offensive putback from David Falk (Madison, Va./Madison County). Back-to-back three pointers sliced the edge down to four, however, and triggered a 21-4 run for the Yellow Jackets, flipping their lead to 31-24.
Each team hit a three pointer before the break leaving R-MC on top 34-27 at halftime.
The Yellow Jackets kept their slight edge for much of the second half. Eastern Mennonite got within 54-51 at the 5:55 mark when Ryan Yates (Alexandria, Va./T.C. Williams) converted a layup after a steal from Falk. Moments later the men had a chance to start a run with another steal, but Falk's full court pass sailed out of bounds to hand it back to R-MC.
A Marcel Crump (Richmond, Va./Highland Springs) layup got the men back with four at 57-53 with 5:05 left, and two Falk free throws did the same thing at 59-55 with 3:25 to go. But after an EMU timeout, the Yellow Jackets answered with a full court inbounds pass for a breakaway dunk, pushing the lead back to six.
The Royals missed a pair of free throws on their next possession while Randolph-Macon made their two charity tosses to push it to 63-55. Crump hit a floating jumper, but the Yellow Jackets kept their edge at the free throw line. EMU was forced to push over the final minute but missed all five of their shots as R-MC won by their largest margin of the day at 67-57.
Eastern Mennonite Coach Kirby Dean said the first 20 minutes had two wild swings, with Randolph-Macon hitting some three pointers in transition to get the leg up.
"I thought we put on a clinic over the first 10 or 11 minutes of the game," said Dean. "But that final eight minutes of the half really changed the landscape of the game, and that is really where we lost it."
The Royals shot a fraction better from the floor, 42% to 41%, and even with similar percentages from long range the Yellow Jackets made eight three pointers compared to five for EMU. But the men committed four more turnovers and struggled from the free throw line. Eastern Mennonite was 6-14 from the stripe compared to 13-17 for Randolph-Macon.
"We did a lot of things well today," explained Dean, "but when you play a team that's that good, and that well-coached, you can't make any mistakes. And there were just little things here or there that made the difference."
Falk finished with 13 points and 10 rebounds, including making 3-of-4 from the free throw line. Yates added 13 points with seven boards and three steals. Crump charted 12 points while Jerome Jones (Charles Town, W.V./Washington) canned a trio of threes for nine. James Williams (Capitol Heights, Md./Archbishop Carroll) had the game high with seven assists.
Joe Hassell had 13 points and six rebounds to lead the Yellow Jackets, they extended their winning streak to 22 games and move into the ODAC Championship game on Sunday. Marcus Badger added 13 with seven assists. Chris Hamilton scored 11.
EMU Seniors
David Falk wraps up his collegiate career with a number of records and other marks in the EMU's history books. Late in his final season, Falk became Eastern Mennonite's 22nd men's basketball player to score 1000 career points. He finishes 21st all-time, passing former teammate Andrew Thorne in his final game to chart 1058 career points. Falk also took over EMU's career blocks mark with his first swat this year, and finished with 214 in his career. His 82 blocks as a junior is EMU's single season mark. The rebounding machine also broke the EMU and ODAC record for rebounds in a game, grabbing 28 against Lynchburg in the ODAC quarterfinals last spring. Falk has 952 rebounds in his career, landing him third all-time at EMU.
Point guard James Williams handed out 246 assists over his four seasons, putting him 12th in EMU's career assists list. Ryan Yates finishes with 955 career points. Marcel Crump played just two years with the Royals but racked up 867 career points.