Guilford Men’s Basketball Escapes Emory & Henry, 61-60, Wednesday In ODAC Action

Guilford Men’s Basketball Escapes Emory & Henry, 61-60, Wednesday In ODAC Action

EMORY, Va. – The Guilford College Men's Basketball Team (9-5, 4-1 ODAC) snapped Emory & Henry College's (8-6, 2-3 ODAC) six-game winning streak with a 61-60 win in Old Dominion Athletic Conference play Wednesday evening at the John Rutledge King Center. The six-game stretch marked the most victories in a row for the Wasps since winning seven straight in February of the 2003-04 season.

The Quakers jumped out to a 7-0 advantage in the first three minutes of the game but the Wasps went on an 11-5 run to close the gap to 12-11 with 12:10 left in the opening 20 minutes of play. GC then went on a 17-9 run covering the next 8:51 for a 29-20 lead, its largest of the game. Emory & Henry chipped into the deficit to make the score 35-29 at the intermission.

Coming out of the break, the Wasps started things off with a 12-6 run in the opening 6:18 to tie things up at 41 points apiece. The game would never be more than two possessions difference the rest of the way with E&H answering each Guilford run with one of their own. Down 56-50, with 4:54 to play, Emory & Henry went on a 10-3 run to claim its first lead of the contest, 60-59, with 11 seconds remaining on the clock. The basket broke a drought of 1:42 for both teams. The Quakers responded on their final possession with Will Freeman slicing into the lane for the go-ahead bucket with three seconds remaining on the clock, 61-60.

Freeman led the way for Guilford with 15 points on six-for-11 shooting, adding six rebounds. Carson Long had 13 points and six boards while Justen Best chipped in 12 points of his own. As a team, the Quakers shot 40.3 percent (25-for-62) for the game, but were only 1-for-19 (5.3%) from three-point land. GC's shooting percentage inside the arc stood at 55.8 as evidenced by a 42-26 lead in points in the paint.

Emory & Henry was paced by sophomore forward Chase Branscomb's (Bristol, Tenn.) double-double as he tallied game-highs in points (17) and rebounds (10) on six-for-12 shooting. Freshman guard Clif Conley (Galax, Va.) had nine points off the bench while sophomore guard John Shelor (Giles, Va.) chipped in eight points.

The Wasps shot 23-for-59 (39%) for the game and were only 28.6 percent (6-for-21) from long range. E&H held a 43-39 rebounding advantage which they converted to a 15-11 lead on second-chance points. However 14 turnovers that resulted in 18 points for the Quakers and an 8-for-14 (57.1%) outing at the free throw line proved to be too much to overcome.

Emory & Henry will take to the road for an ODAC game at Eastern Mennonite University on Saturday. The Wasps and Royals will tip-off at 3:00 p.m.

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-photo courtesy of Caleb Johnston, E&H '15