Lynchburg Reporter

Men’s Basketball Falls at #1 Randolph-Macon

The Randolph men's basketball team returned from its Thanksgiving break to take on defending ODAC and National Champion Randolph-Macon on Sunday. The teams were tied up at halftime but the Yellow Jackets would outscore the WildCats 51-34 in the second half on the way to a 91-74 win.

Randolph started off strong as it led 8-1 just over two minutes into the game. Randolph-Macon closed to within two points but the WildCats stayed out in front. The 'Cats led by as much as nine points, 28-19, with 9:45 remaining in the period after a jump shot by Jerry Goodman (Suffolk, Va./Portsmouth Christian School). The 'Jackets went on a 19-9 run to go ahead 38-37 with 1:35 to play in the half. A three by Jordan Phillips-McLoyd (Johnson City, Tenn./Science Hill) gave Randolph a 40-38 lead with 1:17 on the clock. RM-C tied it up at 40-4-0 with 54 seconds left where the score stood at halftime.

The Yellow Jackets started the second half with an 8-2 run to lead 48-42 at 17:05. Randolph was still within two points of tying the game up, 53-51, with under 15 minutes remaining to play. It was still just a five-point game, 62-57, with under 12 minutes left. The Yellow Jackets then mounted a 21-6 run that covered over nine minutes of game time to take its biggest lead, 83-63, with 2:40 remaining in the game.

Randolph was 25-of-62 from the floor and a season-best 15-of-23 in three-point attempts. The WildCats also performed well at the charity stripe with a 9-of-11 performance.

"Really thought our effort and togetherness were there today," said head coach Pete Hamilton. "Thought we shared it well and really made some loose ball plays most of the first half. That last four minute stretch of the first half started to turn on us. We ended up going in tied versus going in up six. They rebounded a few misses and Mallory really showed that he's an All American during that stretch. Credit to them for finding him and putting him in those spots. Overall, I think it's a game that shows that our guys can go compete with anyone. We just need to bottle that and mix it with some timely discipline to put ourselves in a spot down the stretch."

Phillips-McLoyd led all scorers with 27 points on 9-of-19 shooting. He also set a new Randolph game record with eight three-pointers made (8-of-11) which broke his own record of seven set last season. Danny Bickey (Beckley, Va./Woodrow Wilson) added 21 points. Goodman finished with 15 points. Cole Perry (Salisbury, N.C./Jesse Carson HS) was the team leader in rebounds with seven.

"Congratulations to Jordan for breaking his own record today, noted Hamilton. "He hit some tough ones and cashed in on some nice kick outs when his teammates found him. Also thought Bickey and Jerry did a great job playing through some perimeter physicality to find their shots."

Randolph travels to Guilford on Wednesday. Game time is at 7:00 p.m.

Original source can be found here