EMORY, Va. – The Emory & Henry College Men's Basketball Team (10-7, 4-4 ODAC) solidified its first 10-win season since 2011-12 on Monday evening with a 64-60 win over Randolph College (9-8, 3-5 ODAC) at Bob Johnson Court. The contest was originally scheduled to be played on Saturday, January 23 but was postponed by two days due to Winter Storm Jonas.
The Wasps fired out of the gate, going up 17-7 at the 13:28 mark of the first half. E&H pushed its lead to 13 (25-12) thanks to a pair of three-point buckets from freshman guard Clif Conley (Galax, Va.) and junior guard Ryan Gravley (Austinville, Va.). An 11-0 run by Randolph closed the gap to 25-23 two and a half minutes later but Emory & Henry responded with a 13-2 scoring spurt to go back up by double digits. E&H would lead, 42-34, going into the intermission.
The two teams traded points for the first 8:40 of the second half before five points in a row by Emory & Henry made the score 55-43 with 10:35 on the clock. The WildCats outscored the Wasps, 13-2, in the next 6:57 to draw the margin down to one point, 57-56. E&H made it a two-point game with a free throw by freshman forward Alic Wynn (Asheville, N.C.) but Randolph's Josh Freund tied it up with 2:17 to play with a jumper. A basket for each squad knotted the score at 60 with 51 seconds to go, giving Emory & Henry possession.
Junior guard Myles Turner (Richmond, Va.) hit a pull up jumper at the free throw line to put the Wasps up for good with 39 ticks remaining and after a missed three-pointer by the WildCats, Turner sealed the 64-60 win with a pair of free throws.
Turner led Emory & Henry with 12 points and pitched in five rebounds and two steals. Freshman forward Aaron Ferguson (Princeton, W.Va.) had nine points and seven boards while Conley and Wynn pitched in eight points and four rebounds each. Wynn added three blocks to his tally in the game. As a team, the Wasps shot 51.1 percent (24-for-47) from the floor, hitting six three-pointers. E&H posted a 40-24 rebounding advantage and went 10-for-12 (83.3%) at the free throw line.
Randolph's Zach Desgain paced all players with 19 points to go along with six rebounds while Corey Brown notched 13 points on a trio of triples and four boards. The WildCats shot just 36.8 percent (21-for-57) for the game but led 18-9 on points off turnovers, forcing the Wasps into 21 miscues.
Emory & Henry will take to the road on Wednesday when it visits Turner Gym on the campus of Lynchburg College. Tipoff between the Wasps and the Hornets is scheduled for 7:00 p.m.
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-photo courtesy of Caleb Johnston, E&H '15