Lynchburg Reporter

Men’s Basketball Falls at Lynchburg 83-71

The Randolph men's basketball team made the short trip to the University of Lynchburg to face the Hornets on Wednesday evening at Turner Gymnasium. The WildCats led 37-25 at halftime but the Hornets came back to outscore Randolph in the second half 58-34 on their way to an 83-71 win.

Lynchburg started out with an 8-0 lead to begin the game. Randolph would soon cut that lead down to three points. The Hornets led 25-20 with just under five minutes remaining in the first half but the WildCats went on a 17-0 run to close out the period and jump ahead of the Hornets with a 12-point lead at the break.

Randolph increased its lead to 13 points 45 seconds into the second half after a three-point basket by Landon Wagoner (Martinsville, Va./Carlisle School). An 18-2 run by the home team, however, swung the lead to Lynchburg as it would go up 44-42 with 14:04 showing on the game clock. Randolph tied it up and them the Hornets would go back ahead by two until Jerry Goodman's (Suffolk, Va./Portsmouth Christian School) three pointer put the 'Cats ahead 47-46 with 13:05 remaining.

A Lynchburg 19-6 run put the Hornets on top 65-53 with 6:42 left in the game. Randolph would close to within seven points but a 12-2 Lynchburg run gave the Hornets a 77-60 advantage with 3:41 left to play. The WildCats closed the deficit to 10 points but could not get closer as Lynchburg came away with the victory.

Randolph shot 26-of-72 (36.1%) overall and 7-of-29 (24.1%) from behind the three-point arc. Lynchburg was 30-of-70 (42.9%) overall and 7-of-25 (28%) in three points shots.
Wagoner scored a career-high 15 points to lead Randolph and also pulled down a team-high eight rebounds. Ryan Davis (Erlanger, KY/Lloyd Memorial) also had a career-high with 11 points and came away with three steals. Jordan Phillips-McLoyd (Johnson City, Tenn./Science Hill) added 10 points as did Goodman.

"Landon Wagoner has really started to approach each game with a great attitude," said head coach Pete Hamilton. "His assertiveness tonight was great for us and he's the type of matchup that if he is playing with that intention can be a tough cover. Was great to see Ryan Davis, Kyle Ferguson and Rayvon Graham have a big impact for us tonight in a variety of ways. Those guys gave a great lift of energy and purpose in the first half and their defense started to create some offense for us. Good to see Davis find double figures scoring in just his second game back from being out for so long."

Randolph travels to Averett on Saturday. Game time from Danville is at 2:00 pm. 

Original source can be found here