EMORY, Va. – The Lees-McRae College Men's Basketball Team (5-4) responded from an eight-point first-half deficit to defeat Emory & Henry College (1-8) by a 94-81 score Thursday evening at Bob Johnson Court.
Emory & Henry got out to a 7-2 lead early and after LMC cut the margin to one at the 15:41 mark, the Wasps scored seven straight points for a 14-6 advantage. The Bobcats battled back and took a 30-20 lead thanks to a 16-0 run with 10 points coming from Kendall Isler. E&H trimmed the margin back to four on a three-point play by junior guard Kevin Anzenberger (Concord, N.C.) but Lees-McRae pushed the lead back to 10 in the final seconds.
Wasp sophomore guard Myles Turner (Richmond, Va.) was fouled in the act of shooting a three-pointer as the half expired and hit all three of his free throws to make the score 42-35 at the break.
E&H started the second half off with four straight points to close the gap to three at 42-39 but Lees-McRae went on a 7-0 run to stretch the margin back to 10 with 16:48 on the clock. Later in the half, the Wasps had a 9-2 scoring spurt to make the score 69-72 with 7:55 to go, but Lees-McRae responded with a 13-2 run to go up 85-71 with just under four minutes remaining.
Emory & Henry battled but could get no closer than 10 points the rest of the way as the NCAA Division II Bobcats claimed the 81-94 win.
Lees-McRae was led by Jacquise Moore, who led all players with 19 points, 13 of which came in the second half. Moore added six rebounds, two assists and five steals in the game. Sean Deniton added 18 points and six boards, going nine-for-14 from the field and Isler chipped in 14 points and seven rebounds.
As a team, the Bobcats shot 54.5 percent (36-of-66) for the game including an 18-for-28 (66.7%) performance in the second half. LMC went 18-for-20 (90%) from the free throw line in the game as well, and outscored E&H, 60-26, in the paint.
Sophomore forward Brandon Self (Norfolk, Va.) led Emory & Henry with 15 points on six-for-seven shooting, seven rebounds and four blocks as six different Wasps reached double figures in the scoring column. Turner added 14 points while Anzenberger and sophomore guard Ryan Gravley (Austinville, Va.) had 13 points each.
Freshman guard John Shelor (Giles, Va.) chipped in 11 points, five rebounds and two assists while freshman forward Chase Branscomb (Bristol, Tenn.) notched 10 points on four-for-seven shooting in a breakout game. The Wasps went 52.8 percent (28-for-53) from the floor in the game, hitting nine three-pointers, but 20 turnovers which resulted in 30 Bobcat points proved to be too much to overcome.
Emory & Henry will have 11 days before its next game when it travels to Bluefield, Virginia to take on the Rams of Bluefield College on Monday, December 29. Tipoff on the Bluefield College campus is set for 6:00 p.m.
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-photo courtesy of Caleb Johnston, E&H '15