SALEM, Va. - Randolph-Macon Men's Basketball uses elite second half defense and three-point shooting to defeat rival Hampden-Sydney, 69-41, rushing into the ODAC Championship tomorrow night.
The Basics:
Score: #1 Randolph-Macon 69, Hampden-Sydney 41
Venue: Salem, Va. // Salem Civic Center
Records: Randolph-Macon (25-2, 14-2 ODAC), Hampden-Sydney (17-10, 10-6 ODAC)
How it Happened:
- Hampden-Sydney started the scoring to take the early 4-2. Malcolm Hodges (Richmond, Va./Monacan) led the Yellow Jackets, scoring six straight points and put RMC into the lead at 8-4. The Tigers received a three-pointer from Kolby Wright to get within one point and Randolph-Macon leading 8-7 with 16:08 on the clock. Delani Hammonds (Charlotte, N.C./Ardrey Kell) nailed a three ball, Ty Showalter (Charlotte, N.C./Butler) made a bucket soon after and shot RMC to a 13-7 lead. Hampden-Sydney answered with four straight points and with 11:44 left in the half, Randolph-Macon would lead 13-11. The game of runs continued with five straight points for the Lemon and Black, highlighted by a three-pointer by Theo Antinori (Asheville, N.C./Rabun Gap) and an 18-11 lead for RMC. The teams both went through dry spells on the offensive side of the court and Randolph-Macon had a 20-13 lead with 7:12 on the clock. Hampden-Sydney battled back and a Colin Radcliffe three ball trimmed the RMC lead to 22-21 with 5:13 left in the half. The Tigers ran its run to 10-2 and free throws gave the lead to HSC at 23-22. Antinori hit a huge three-pointer towards the end of the half, but Hampden-Sydney rattled off the final four points of the half and took a 27-26 lead into halftime.
- In the second half, Liam Joyce (Allentown, Pa./Allentown Central Catholic) gave the lead back to Randolph-Macon with a hook shot, showing a 28-27 lead. The lead with hold at the first media timeout at 32-29. Hammonds buried a three ball and Showalter cashed in a turnaround jumper to give RMC its biggest lead of the game at 38-29 with 14:10 left in regulation. Amr Areikat (Ramallah, Palestine./Langley) followed up Hammonds with a triple of his own, creating a double-digit lead for the Yellow Jackets at 42-30 with 12:40 on the clock. It kept raining from distance, Antinori ran the second half run to 19-3 with a three-pointer and Randolph-Macon mounted a 45-30 lead. Keishawn Pulley Jr. (Richmond, Va./St. Christopher's School) pushed the lead to 20 points at 52-32 with the fourth three-pointer of the second half for the Yellow Jackets. The Richmond native made it back-to-back three balls and a 55-34 lead for RMC with 7:15 left in regulation. The Tigers scored its tenth point of the second half with 4:19 on the clock, as Peter Moye made a bucket and the lead stood with Randolph-Macon at 60-38 with 4:00 left in the game. The Yellow Jackets would hold Hampden-Sydney to 5-of-34 (14.71%) shooting in the second half and defeat the Tigers 69-41.
Inside the Numbers:
- Randolph-Macon shot 52.9 percent from the floor, as Hampden-Sydney knocked down 26.3 percent of its shots.
- The Yellow Jackets outrebounded the Tigers 40-to-29 in the entire game.
- Antinori led all scorers with 15 points and also pulled down seven rebounds. The junior was lethal from beyond-the-arc, going 3-for-4 in the game.
- Hodges ended the game with 13 points and four rebounds for the Yellow Jackets.
- Hammonds was the final Yellow Jacket to end the night in double figures with 11 points, going with three rebounds and two three-pointers.
- Pulley Jr. and Areikat both scored eight points for Randolph-Macon.
For the Record:
- Randolph-Macon has now advanced to its first conference title game since winning the title in the 2022-23 season.
- This is the 10th time this season that the Lemon and Black have held their opponent to 50 points or less in a game.
- Pulley Jr. passed Carl Koenig '61 for 23rd on the Randolph-Macon career scoring list with 1,302 points.
Up Next
Randolph-Macon will be back in action tomorrow in the ODAC Championship against the winner of (2) Virginia Wesleyan and (3) Roanoke at 8:00 p.m.
