EMORY, Va. – The Hampden-Sydney College Men's Basketball Team (5-0, 2-0 ODAC) shot 61.5 percent (16-for-26) from the field in the second half en route to an 82-72 win over Emory & Henry College (0-7, 0-1 ODAC) Saturday afternoon in Old Dominion Athletic Conference action.
Emory & Henry jumped out to a 9-0 lead at the 15:04 mark of the first half but HSC answered with eight straight points. The Wasps went back on the attack with a 10-2 run to go up 19-10 on back-to-back three-pointers by freshman guard John Shelor (Giles, Va.) with 9:36 on the clock. The Tigers clawed their way back into the game, cutting the halftime margin to 29-26.
Coming out of the break, Hampden-Sydney scored the first eight points of the half to go up 34-29 and pressed their advantage to 40-33 thanks to a 16-4 overall run spanning the opening 4:21 of the period. E&H fought back to tie things up at 48-all with 12:00 go to on another big three-pointer by Shelor. With the score tied at 50, the Tigers went on a 7-0 run to take the lead for good.
Emory & Henry battled back to cut the deficit to six (73-67) with 29 seconds remaining, thanks to a trio of steals from its full court pressure, but Hamdpen-Sydney converted nine of its final 10 free throws in the game to claim the 82-72 win.
Mike Murray led all players with 23 points and nine rebounds as he went six-for-10 from the field and hit all 10 of his free throws for the Tigers. Jake Duncan added 18 points and six rebounds off the bench for HSC while Guilherme Guimarães had 12 points and five boards. Leon Hargrove chipped in 10 points, four rebounds and four steals in the contest.
As a team, the Tigers shot 48.1 percent (26-for-54) for the game, recovering from cold shooting in the first half with a focus on their interior game in the final 20 minutes. HSC was 27-of-31 (87.1%) from the free throw line and held a 35-24 rebounding advantage.
E&H sophomore guard Myles Turner (Richmond, Va.) led the Wasps with 21 points as he hit nine free throws and connected on a pair of three-pointers. Sophomore guard Ryan Gravley (Austinville, Va.) added eight points, four rebounds, six assists and two steals while Shelor hit four triples to finish the game with 12 points. Sophomore forward Brandon Self (Norfolk, Va.) added 13 points on five-for-six shooting and four rebounds for Emory & Henry.
The Wasps hit 42.9 percent (24-of-56) of their field goal attempts, including nine shots from beyond the arc. Emory & Henry was 15-of-18 (83.3%) from the free throw line and assisted on 15 of 24 made field goals.
Emory & Henry will remain at home on Wednesday when it hosts Montreat College at Bob Johnson Court. Tipoff between the Wasps and Cavaliers is set for 7:00 p.m.
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-photo courtesy of Caleb Johnston, E&H '15