EMORY, Va. – The Emory & Henry College Men's Basketball Team (3-13, 2-5 ODAC) shot 54 percent (34-for-63) for the game as it picked up a 96-89 win over visiting Roanoke College (6-10, 1-6 ODAC) Wednesday evening in Old Dominion Athletic Conference play at Bob Johnson Court.
The Wasps jumped out to a 15-6 lead at the 15:26 mark of the opening 20 minutes, forcing the Maroons to call a timeout. Emory & Henry would lead by as much as 12 (35-23) before Roanoke finished the period on a 19-5 run for a 42-40 advantage at the intermission.
RC scored nine of the first 13 points of the second half, taking its largest lead at 51-44 with 18:08 on the clock. Emory & Henry responded with a 12-2 scoring spurt to go back up 56-53 and would never trail again in the contest. With the score tied at 60 with 10:31 remaining, the Wasps put together another 12-2 run for a 72-62 advantage. E&H extended the margin to 15 with less than four minutes to play but Roanoke battled back to cut the deficit to six on two separate occasions under one minute.
Solid free throw shooting (19-for-25 – 76%) by the Wasps, including 13-of-14 in the final 98 seconds, sealed the deal as they went on to win by the 96-89 score.
Emory & Henry saw six of its players reach double figures in the scoring column led by freshman guard John Shelor (Giles, Va.), who put up a team-high 18 points and pulled down seven rebounds. Shelor hit a trio of three-pointers and connected on seven-of-eight at the charity stripe. Sophomore forward Brandon Self (Norfolk, Va.) registered a double-double with 11 points and 11 rebounds, including six on the offensive glass.
Sophomore guard Ryan Gravley (Austinville, Va.) had 16 points and five assists while junior guard Kevin Anzenberger (Concord, N.C.) and freshman forward Noah Walker (Bristol, Va.) each notched 13 points. Walker was six-for-nine from the field and pulled down five boards while Anzenberger collected six rebounds of his own. Sophomore guard Myles Turner (Richmond, Va.) had 11 points, seven rebounds and four assists as well for the Wasps.
As a team, E&H was able to overcome 16 turnovers with strong shooting and a 45-32 rebounding advantage which translated into 18 second-chance points.
Roanoke was led by John Fitchett's 20 points off the bench as he hit four treys prior to fouling out. Julian Ramirez tallied 15 points, five rebounds and seven assists while Andrew Daniels and Joey Miller had 13 and 10 points, respectively. The Maroons shot 45.2 percent (33-for-73) from the floor and connected on nine shots from beyond the arc, but their struggles on the boards proved to be a big factor in the contest.
Emory & Henry will be back on the road on Saturday when it travels to Ashland, Virginia for a 3:30 p.m., matchup with the 11th-ranked Yellow Jackets of Randolph-Macon College. The contest will be the second of a doubleheader with the E&H and R-MC women's teams facing off at 1:00 p.m.
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-photo courtesy of Caleb Johnston, E&H '15