ASHLAND, VA - The ninth-ranked Randolph-Macon Men's Basketball team used a strong first half and weathered a fierce Randolph second-half rally to hold off the WildCats 76-64 Wednesday night in the ODAC opener for both teams in Ashland.   

R-MC (5-0 / 1-0 ODAC) came out of the gates quick, taking an early 13-2 lead when Brandon Braxton drained a jumper with just  under 15 minutes to go in the first stanza.  Randolph-Macon kept a double digit lead for the remainer of the half and  the Yellow Jackets lead grew to 20 points when David Carlson knocked down a three with 28 seconds to play

A Colton Hunt three point play with nine seconds remaining in the half sent the teams into the locker room with R-MC up 42-25.

R-MC continued to build its lead early in the second half, going up by 26 when Jordan Brown made the score 60-34 with 12 minutes to go in the contest. 

After a Braxton free-throw made the score 63-39 with 11:31 to play, Randolph went on a 23-5 run over the next nine minutes, cutting the Jackets advantage to just five at 67-62 with 2:30 to go in the game. That would be as close as Randolph would get as R-MC went on a 9-2 run to end the game and seal the victory.

Brown led five Yellow Jackets in double figures with 14 points.  Danny Jones and Brandon Braxton each had 13, Carlson added 11 off the bench in the win and Calvin Croskey had 10.

Hunt paced Randolph (5-1 / 0-1 ODAC) with 19 points, while Caleb Pearson had 12 points and Derrick Woods-Morrow had 11 in the loss for the WildCats.

Randolph-Macon will return to action on Saturday when it travels to league rival Emory & Henry for a 2:00 p.m. tip.

-Yellow Jackets-