EMORY, Va. – The Ferrum College Men's Basketball Team (2-1) withstood a last-minute rally by Emory & Henry College (0-2) en route to a 71-66 win Tuesday evening at Bob Johnson Court.
Emory & Henry got out to a 9-2 lead at the 17:22 mark of the first half and would lead by as much as 11 (19-8) after a 10-0 run which covered 2:23. The Panthers began to claw their way back into the contest, cutting the Wasps' advantage to two with 3:09 remaining before the break.
With 16 seconds to go before intermission, Ferrum tied the contest at 36 points apiece on two free throws by Donte Thomas but E&H got a pair from the charity stripe thanks to junior forward Tyler Mullins (Hazard, Ky.) to make the halftime score 38-36.
The two squads battled back and forth for the first 8:07 of the second half to a 46-44 score. Down by two, FC went on a 20-5 scoring run that covered 7:17 to take a 65-51 lead.
Emory & Henry used a 13-2 scoring spurt over the next 3:18 to close the gap to 66-64 with 55 seconds remaining, but Ferrum was able to finish the game on a 5-2 run to claim the 71-66 victory.
The Panthers placed four players in double figures in scoring led by Marshall Hamilton's game-high 17 points. Lamont King had 14 points, four steals and three rebounds while Jamal Pullen and D.J. Wallace chipped in 10 points each.
As a team, Ferrum shot 47.1 percent (24-for-51) for the game and tallied 24 points off turnovers.
Emory & Henry was paced by senior forward Armando Murrell (Brooklyn, N.Y.) with 16 points and five rebounds while junior guard Stephen Brown (Charleston, S.C.) had 14 points of his own. Mullins finished the night with 11 points and a game-high seven rebounds while junior forward Charles Smith (Fayetteville, N.C.) tallied 10 points and four rebounds.
The Wasps shot 21-for-44 from the floor (47.7 percent) and won the rebound battle, 32-26, but were plagued by 21 turnovers in the game.
Emory & Henry will travel to Hampden Sydney, Va. on Saturday to open Old Dominion Athletic Conference play with a 2:00 p.m. matchup with the Tigers.
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