The Short story: The Roanoke men's basketball team, ranked No. 23 in this week's D3hoops.com Top 25 poll, grinded out a 75-73 overtime win Tuesday over visiting Ferrum College in an Old Dominion Athletic Conference (ODAC) contest. Seniors Joshua McClary and Joshua Morse combined for nine of Roanoke's 11 points in the extra session to lift the Maroons to victory.  

The Maroons finish the conference slate 14-2 to earn a first-round home game next Wednesday (Feb. 26) in the Cregger Center. The last time the Maroons had 14 wins in a 16-game ODAC schedule was 1984.

How it happened:  
*Ferrum led 19-18 with 10:50 left in the first half. RC used a 10-0 run to take the lead 28-19 and also had a nine-point advantage (36-27) at halftime.
*Despite going ahead by as many as 12 early in the second half, the Maroons couldn't put the Panthers away. A 10-0 Ferrum run cut the lead to just two and the contest remained tight the rest of the way.
*Marcus Morgan scored on a driving layup with 35 seconds left in regulation to give Roanoke a 64-62 edge, but Ferrum's Tae Allen connected on two free throws with 17 ticks left. Ferrum's defense made a stop in the closing seconds to force OT.
*The Maroons netted the first four points of overtime and with 1:11 left, McClary recorded a traditional three-point play to give Roanoke a 75-70 edge. Ferrum had a three-point play of its own with 47 seconds left, and each team's defense made stops down the stretch. With two seconds left ahead by two, Morgan intercepted a Ferrum pass to seal the win.

Inside the numbers:
*Morgan finished with 17 points, 12 rebounds, four assists and four steals.
*McClary scored a game-high 22 points.
*Morse had 15 points and seven boards.
*Gavin O'Malley tallied nine points and seven rebounds and Patrick Clevenger had six points and seven caroms.
*Allen had 18 points and five assists for Ferrum (16-8/8-7).

Up Next:
*Roanoke (20-4) closes out the 2024-25 regular season Saturday with a non-conference home game against the Apprentice School at 2 p.m. McClary and Morse will be recognized in a pre-game ceremony on Senior Day.

Complete ODAC Tournament match-ups and brackets will be released by the conference office upon completion of Saturday's games.