LYNCHBURG, VA --- From the moment Isaiah Harris-Winn (Frederick, Md./St. Maria Goretti) banked in a three pointer to open overtime, it felt like the Runnin Royals had the edge. The men built a five-point lead in the OT and kept it, earning an impressive win on the road at Randolph College on Sunday, 83-78.
Eastern Mennonite (4-1 / 1-0 ODAC) got a balanced collection of clutch shots from their roster of freshmen and sophomores as they never trailed over the final 15 minutes of the contest, including the entire extra session, to start their Old Dominion Athletic Conference schedule on the right foot.
The WildCats (3-1 / 0-1 ODAC) erased a four-point EMU lead midway through OT, but a three ball from Maleke Jones (Charles Town, W.V./Washington) and a tip-in from Sammy Thomas (Owings, Md./Northern) put the Royals back in front, 79-74, with 53 seconds to go.
Randolph's Corey Brown hit a pair of free throws, but freshman Khalil Davis (Harrisonburg, Va./Spotswood) pulled up for a huge contested jumper as the shot clock expired to keep the lead at five with 19.2 left.
Zach Desgain scored for the WildCats, but Jerome Jones (Charles Town, W.V./Washington) iced the game with a pair of free throws with nine seconds remaining, also providing the final score, 83-78.
Despite playing their ODAC opener against a team which returned all five starters from last year, Eastern Mennonite jumped out to an 11-2 lead. Randolph came back to lead at halftime, 38-35.
Play stayed tight for much of the second half, as the men took over the lead midway through the frame.
Back-to-back triples from Maleke Jones bumped EMU's lead to 65-56 with 5:22 to play. The WildCats eventually got a pair of inside buckets to slice the lead to five at 69-64 with 2:11 left. A triple from Desgain, just Randolph's second of the game, cut the edge down to two points.
The teams traded empty possessions, and the Royals called a timeout with 28 ticks left. With a chance to make it a two-possession lead, EMU turned the ball over instead and the WildCats called their own timeout to set up a final play with 16 seconds remaining.
Brown then hit a pump-fake inside shot to lock things up at 69-69 with 4.9 to go, completing Randolph's 9-0 run.
The men tried to push the ball up the court and force it inside, but were too far under the rim to get a good look as time in regulation expired to set up the overtime.
Despite Randolph's disciplined team limiting leading scorer Jerome Jones, EMU's offense was still running in high gear, out-shooting their hosts 54.0% to 51.6%. Their biggest edge was from outside, hitting 12-of-35 three pointers for 34.3% compared to just 3-16 for the WildCats. The Royals had a 36-29 rebounding advantage although they had more turnovers, 19-12.
Maleke Jones was 6-10 from long range, leading all scorers with a career high 18 points. Harris-Winn was right behind with 17 points, seven rebounds and four assists. RaShawn Latimer (Warrenton, Va./Kettle Run) dumped in 16 points with a career best seven assists.
Xavier McCants (Olney, Md./Sherwood) scored nine while Thomas came in with eight points and eight boards.
Desgain led Randolph with 15 points while Brown had nine points and six rebounds.
The Runnin Royals have one more pre-Christmas ODAC game, heading to Roanoke College on Wednesday.