EMORY, Va. – The Guilford College Men's Basketball Team (14-4, 7-2 ODAC) needed two overtime periods in order to steal a 91-88 Old Dominion Athletic Conference game away from Emory & Henry College (3-15, 2-7 ODAC) Wednesday evening at Bob Johnson Court.
The opening 20 minutes of the game saw seven ties and seven lead changes with the lead never going above four points for either team. E&H took a 19-15 advantage at the 10:14 mark of the first half but a 13-5 scoring spurt by the Quakers gave them a 28-24 lead with 5:05 to go before the break. The Wasps finished the period on a 10-4 run for a 34-32 score at the half.
Coming out of the break, Emory & Henry put up the first 10 points of the second half to extend its lead to 44-32. GC was able to slowly chip away at the deficit, closing the gap to one (51-50) with 11:43 left to play before a 13-4 run by the Wasps made it 66-54 at the 6:24 mark. Once again, the Quakers made their way back into the game, tying things up at 70 on an old-fashioned three-point play by Matt McCarthy with 13 seconds remaining. E&H was unable to get a shot off in its final possession, forcing the extra period.
In the first overtime, the Wasps went up early after being fouled on their first possession but the Quakers answered with five straight points to take a 75-72 lead. E&H junior guard Kevin Anzenberger (Concord, N.C.) hit a three-pointer to tie things up with 2:15 on the clock. The two teams then traded layups for a 77-all tie with 94 seconds to go, which ended up being the score at the end of 45 minutes played.
The second overtime saw three ties and four lead changes as the contest went down to the final minute. Guilford went up twice early on, but Emory & Henry came back to tie things up and take an 82-81 lead with 2:09 to go on a three-point play by freshman guard John Shelor (Giles, Va.). A pair of layups by sophomore guard Myles Turner (Richmond, Va.) and two more free throws by Shelor put the Wasps within one (89-88) with 14 seconds left.
McCarthy hit two free throws with 12 seconds on the clock to make the final margin 91-88 and scored the final eight points of the game for Guilford hitting a pair of contested three-pointers from well beyond the arc.
Guilford shot 50.7 percent (37-for-73) for the game and hit 10 three-pointers, balancing that with 48 points in the paint for an inside-out offensive attack. McCarthy finished with 44 points including 13 in overtime, going 16-for-29 from the field with seven three-pointers. Jonny Rice had 28 points and seven rebounds while Trever Hyatt added nine points for the Quakers.
Emory & Henry saw four players reach double figures in the scoring column led by Shelor's career-high 23 points to go along with six rebounds and three steals. Turner had 15 points and seven assists while Anzenberger added 13 points, hitting four three's in the game. Freshman guard Josh Hess (Abingdon, Va.) was perfect from the field, tallying for three-pointers of his own for 12 points. Sophomore guard Ryan Gravley (Austinville, Va.) chipped in eight points, six rebounds and six assists while freshman forward Noah Walker (Bristol, Va.) had eight points of his own.
Emory & Henry went 54 percent (34-for-63) from the field in the game, connecting on 12 three-pointers. The Wasps held a slim, 35-34, rebounding advantage and were 8-for-11 (72.2%) from the free throw line.
E&H will next take the court on Saturday when it travels to face off against Hampden-Sydney College. That contest is scheduled for a 2:00 p.m., start.
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-photo courtesy of Caleb Johnston, E&H '15