Cold Spell Pushes Roanoke Past Marlins 93-84

VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. -- The Virginia Wesleyan College men's basketball led by seven points at halftime, but Roanoke College shut down the Marlin offense down the stretch to win 93-84 in Old Dominion Athletic Conference (ODAC) action Saturday afternoon.

The Marlins led 53-46 at halftime behind 18 points from Khory Moore and a performance by Tim Jones that put him on pace for VWC's first triple-double since Stephen Fields in 2009. Jones had nine points, six assists, and five rebounds in the opening period.

Virginia Wesleyan jumped out to a 9-0 lead just over a minute into the contest as Nick Doyle scored a pair of three-pointers followed by a trifecta from Moore. The Marlins led by as many as 10 points in the first half.

The second half was a different story as Roanoke held the Marlins to 31.4% shooting from the field and an 0-for-12 performance from behind the arc to outscore the hosts 47-31 in the final 20 minutes of play.

Virginia Wesleyan knotted the game at 82 with 3:52 to play as Justin Watson converted a pair of free throws.

CJ Miles put the Maroons back in front on a fast break jumper with 3:01 left in regulation. The jumper by Miles started a 9-0 run by Roanoke that would span 3:22, giving the Maroons a 91-82 lead with 31 seconds left before Khalil Barnette scored a layup to end the spurt. Virginia Wesleyan was held to 0-for-9 from the field during the Roanoke run while the visitors converted 66.7% of attempts while scoring on 7-of-8 free throws.

Joey Miller led Roanoke (12-1/4-0) with 24 points and seven rebounds. Miles tallied 17 points off the bench as John Fitchett contributed 14 points.

Moore ended with 20 points for the Marlins while Jones contributed 15 points, seven rebounds, and seven assists. Corey White, Jr. matched a career-high with 14 points off the bench.

Virginia Wesleyan (8-5/3-1) travels to Eastern Mennonite University (4-6/1-3) for an ODAC contest Wednesday at 7 p.m.