Lynchburg Reporter

Bickey Drops 33 but WildCat Men Fall to EMU 88-83

 The Randolph men's basketball team looked for its third straight win in the new year as they traveled to Eastern Mennonite on Saturday. The game was tightly contested throughout with seven lead changes but the host Royals came out on top in the end as they won 88-83.

Randolph led 5-2 less than two minutes into the first half. An 11-4 run by the Royals put them ahead 13-9. The WildCats kept pace with EMU as their deficit would not go up by more than two possessions. With just under nine minutes remaining in the period, the Royals went on a 6-1 run to take a 32-25 lead with 7:09 showing on the game clock. The WildCats answered with a 14-5 run to go up 39-37 with 3:08 on the clock as Danny Bickey provided 12 of the WildCat points during the run. EMU responded with an 11-4 run to go up 48-43 at halftime.

The Royals started the second half on an 11-5 run to take its biggest lead of the day, 59-48. A 9-2 Randolph run got it to within four points at 61-57. The WildCats cut their deficit to two points three times with the last occurrence happening with 7:18 remaining in the period. Six straight points by the Royals gave them an eight point lead but the WildCats were able to knock it down to three points, 77-74, with under four minutes left. In the end, Eastern Mennonite was able to stay out in front with an 11-8 run to come out with the victory.

Randolph was 31-of-67 (46.3%) from the field and 11-of-27 (40.7%) from behind the three-point arc. The Royals shot 24-of-53 (45.3%) and 9-of-30 (30%) in three-point attempts. The WildCats controlled the paint with a 38-28 advantage.

"Couldn't recover from a really cold start," said head coach Pete Hamilton. "Thought our guys hung in and made some nice runs at it but we were relying a little too much on making shots to keep us around. EMU is a tough team to matchup with but we shouldn't be giving up 48 first half points. Unfortunately some decent looks ended up not going down for us early and I think that had a negative impact on our energy and effort in other areas."

Bickey scored 33 points to lead Randolph and was just one point short of matching his career high from earlier this season. He added four rebounds, four assists, and three steals. Bickey's eight three-point baskets matched the Randolph game record set earlier this season by Jordan Phillips-McLoyd. Jerry Goodman (Suffolk, Va./Portsmouth Christian School) added 15 points. Landon Wagoner (Martinsville, Va./Carlisle School) contributed nine points, seven rebounds, and two steals. Cole Perry (Salisbury, N.C./Jesse Carson HS) chipped in eight points, six rebounds, and six assists. Micah Crider (Bedford, Va./Liberty HS) led the 'Cats in rebounds with nine to go with four points, one assist, one blocked shot, and one steal.

"Bickey obviously did some great things for us offensively," noted Hamilton. "The best part of his game tonight was his teammate's awareness of how we could help him continue to score.  Micah Crider was absolutely phenomenal in his role. He had been taking a few spot minutes and stepped up in a big way for us tonight. Playing 15 minutes and being our leading rebounder was great. He also had a huge hustle play down the stretch to give us a chance. Really good to see him and I think he will continue to progress for us."

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

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