VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. – The No. 8 Virginia Wesleyan College Men's Basketball Team (13-2, 5-1 ODAC) outscored Emory & Henry College (2-13, 1-5 ODAC) by a 48-29 margin in the second half en route to an 85-62 win Saturday afternoon at The Batten Center in Old Dominion Athletic Conference action. The Marlins are currently ranked as the eighth-best team in NCAA Division III by D3hoops.com.
Virginia Wesleyan built an early 20-8 lead at the 12:44 mark of the first half, but Emory & Henry used a deliberate pace to chip away at the lead. The Wasps got the margin to within two points (33-31) with 1:56 to go before halftime on a three-pointer by freshman guard John Shelor (Giles, Va.). Shelor's triple capped off a 12-2 run by E&H. The contest would go into the break with VWC leading, 37-33.
Emory & Henry kept the pressure on in the opening five minutes of the second half, trimming the margin to one points on three separate occasions in a two-minute span. Sophomore forward Brandon Self (Norfolk, Va.) scored seven of his 17 points during the span, falling one short of his season-high in front of a hometown crowd.
With the score 51-47, Virginia Wesleyan went on a 23-5 run to extend its lead to 74-52with less than four minutes remaining. The Marlins would lead by as much as 26 in the closing minute of the contest, but another three-pointer from Shelor gave the contest its final 85-62 margin.
Virginia Wesleyan shot 44 percent (33-for-75) for the game and connected on 10 shots from beyond the arc. The Marlins held a 53-24 rebounding advantage including a 23-4 clip on offensive boards, resulting in 19 second-chance points.
Khory More had a team-high 14 points and added eight rebounds while Brandon Mitchell collected a double-double (13 points, 11 rebounds) in 31 minutes off the bench. Greg Montgomery and Breven Lyons eachd had 12 points while Cameron Owens added 10 points and six rebounds.
Emory & Henry was paced by Self's 17-point, 13-rebound performance while sophomore guard Myles Turner (Richmond, Va.) led all players with 18 points and a career-high seven assists. Shelor finished the contest with eight points.
As a team, the Wasps shot 40.8 percent (20-for-49) from the field and hit 6-of-19 (31.6%) of their attempts from beyond the arc. E&H got to the free throw line 22 times, converting for 16 points, but the battle down low went the way of VWC.
Emory & Henry will return home to Bob Johnson Court on Wednesday when it hosts Roanoke College in an ODAC contest at 7:00 p.m.
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-photo courtesy of Caleb Johnston, E&H '15