GRANTHAM, Pa. – Freshman Miles Mallory (Beltsville, Md./St. Vincent Pallotti) had nine rebounds and 10 points, including eight straight for the Yellow Jackets down the stretch, as the 24th-ranked Randolph-Macon men's basketball team outlasted Ursinus 54-50 Friday evening in the first round of the Messiah Tip-Off Tournament.

The Basics:

Score: Randolph-Macon 54, Ursinus 50

Location/Venue: Grantham, Pa./Jordan Court in Hitchcock Arena

Records: R-MC 3-0, UC 2-1

How it Happened:

• Senior Corey Bays (Bel Air, Md./CM Wright) nailed a three-pointer 1:40 into the contest to start the scoring for the Yellow Jackets. Following a pair of free throws by the Bears, freshman Josh Talbert (Virginia Beach, Va./Kellam) had a layup and a trey as R-MC built a 7-2 advantage. Another triple by Bays gave the Yellow Jackets a 13-4 lead with 11:45 left in the first half. UC used a 12-1 spurt to go up 16-14 with five minutes remaining. Junior Terry Woods (Burlington, N.C./Burlington School) had a layup to halt the spurt and level the score at 16-16. Woods hit a trey and Talbert had a layup to make it a 7-0 run as the Yellow Jackets took a 21-16 lead at the break. The R-MC defense held the Bears scoreless over the final five minutes of the half. UC shot 21% from the floor (4-19) and 17% on three-pointers (1-6) while committing 13 turnovers. Bays and Talbert both had seven points, while Woods added five. Junior Buzz Anthony (Arnold, Md./Archbishop Spalding) had four assists. Mallory had four rebounds and a pair of blocks. R-MC had a 14-0 advantage in bench points and 10-2 in points off turnovers.
• Anthony hit a layup and a jumper before feeding Mallory underneath for a layup as R-MC took a 27-16 lead 90 seconds into the second half. A three-pointer by sophomore Ian Robertson (Lewes, Del./Cape Henlopen) gave the Yellow Jackets their largest lead at 30-16 two minutes in, extending R-MC's run to 16 straight points over a seven-minute stretch. UC cut the deficit in half with seven straight points before a three-point play by junior David Funderburg (Greensboro, N.C./Northwest Guilford) pushed the lead back to double figures at 33-23 with 14:45 remaining. The Bears put together a 20-7 run to take a 43-30 lead with five minutes left. Mallory would have the next four buckets for the Yellow Jackets, as Talbert fed him twice on layups and Anthony hit him for a pair of jumpers, as R-MC took a 48-47 lead with 2:40 remaining. Anthony hit a pair of free throws with 38.7 seconds left to push the advantage to three at 50-47. A bucket by the Bears made it a one-point contest with 28 seconds remaining. Anthony hit both ends of a one-and-one to make it 52-49 with 23.1 seconds left. A made free throw by UC and a missed foul shot by R-MC gave the Bears a chance to tie or take the lead. The Yellow Jacket defense forced a turnover and Talbert sank two free throws with 9.2 seconds remaining to make the final 54-50.

By The Numbers:

• Talbert paced the victors with 13 points off the bench and had three assists and three steals. Bays also finished with 10 points, hitting three treys and one free throw. Anthony had eight points, eight assists and seven rebounds.
• R-MC had a 23-0 advantage in bench points.
• The Yellow Jackets had assists on 16 of their 20 field goals.
• The R-MC defense held UC to 35% shooting from the floor (15-43) and 25% from beyond the arc (3-12). The Bears scored 17 of their 50 points from the free throw line.

For The Record

• R-MC has held each of its first three opponents to 50 points or less.

Up Next:

• Randolph-Macon will advance to Saturday's 3 p.m. championship game to face the winner of Clarks Summit vs. host Messiah.