THE GAME FACTS

• Score:  Roanoke 87, Alfred 56
• Records:  Maroons 2-1, Saxons 1-2
• Location:  Salem, Va. – Cregger Center 
• The Short Story: The Roanoke men's basketball team got their home season off to a commanding start with an 87-56 win over Alfred in the first game of the 2022 Frankie Allen Tip-Off Tournament at the Cregger Center on Friday night. Kasey Draper had a team-high 21 points to lead the Maroons offensively.

HOW IT HAPPENED

• The first six and a half minutes was all Maroons with Roanoke leading 18-11 at the first media time out led by Draper's eight off of 3-for-4 shooting. Justin Kuthan extended the lead to nine twice of a pair of layups to keep the Maroons ahead by nearly double digits. Draper reach double-figures at with a three off pass from Efosa U-Edosomwan at 9:00 and Zach Rosenthal pushed the Roanoke lead to 14 just 22 seconds later with a three from Marcus Morgan, forcing the Saxons to take a time out at 8:34.
• Alfred scored just six points in the final 7:06 of the half while the Maroons doubled up those points to take an 18-point lead into halftime.
• The two teams traded baskets to start the second half with no one scoring more than four points without the other answering as the Maroons kept a 16-point lead at 16:21. Over the next five minutes it was the maroons that extended their lead from 14 to 27 at 66-39, capped by a pair of free throws by U-Edosomwan at 8:36.
• The Saxons would pull within 25 at 6:44, but a layup by Joshua McClary and a three by Patrick Clevenger put the lead up to 30 with just 5:06 left in the game.

BY THE NUMBERS

• Roanoke shot 50% (17-for-34) from the floor in the first half including five of 14 from beyond the arc. The Maroons forced Alfred into 10 turnovers in the first 20 minutes, turning those into 10 points. The Roanoke bench outscored the Saxons bench 13-4. Draper nearly outscored the Saxons by himself with 16 points in the opening half while both Rosenthal and Kuthan each had six points. Five Maroons had at least one rebound while with Kuthan and Marcus Morgan each grabbing three boards.
• Alfred was led by Brewster Marshall in the first half with seven points and Mike Schmidt with six.
• The second half saw Kuthan and Clevenger lead the Maroons with eight points each. For the game, Draper led the Maroons with 21 points while Kuthan led with seven rebounds.
• The Maroons shot 55.7% from the field for the game on 34-for-61 shooting while also going eight-for-20 from beyond the arc. Roanoke led the Saxons in total rebounds (32-29), assists (17-7), points off turnovers (17-6), points in the paint (46-34), and bench points (48-10).

UP NEXT

• The Maroons will next play on Saturday, November 19 in the championship game of the Frankie Allen Tip-off Classic against Salisbury, who knocked off Mary Baldwin in overtime in the late game on Friday. Game time is scheduled for 3 p.m.