THE GAME FACTS

• Score:  Roanoke 74, Eastern Mennonite 61
• Records:  Maroons 11-2, 4-0 ODAC; Royals 4-9, 0-5 ODAC
• Location:  Salem, Va. – Cregger Center
• The Short Story: The Roanoke men's basketball team used a scoring run at midway through the second half to pull away in a 74-61 win over Eastern Mennonite at the Cregger Center. Justin Kuthan led all scorers with 19 points.

HOW IT HAPPENED

• The Royals used a barrage of three-pointers early in the first half to jump out to a 6-1 and 18-13 lead with 8:29 left in the opening period. Both teams went back and forth, trading baskets and leads with Efosa U-Edosomwan making a layup with 27 seconds left in the period to give the Maroons a 33-32 lead at the half.
• Zach Rosenthal hit a three-pointer from the top of the key at 14:56 to give Roanoke a 44-39 lead. A quick three by the Royals pulled them within two at 13:40. The Maroons would go on a 6-0 run with a pair of layups from Kuthan and one from Rosenthal to push the lead up to eight points.
• Kuthan and Rosenthal would score five points for the Maroons near the eight-minute mark to extend the home lead to 12. After, the Royals and Maroons would trade baskets with Marcus Morgan scoring the final points of the game with 53 seconds left to provide the final 74-61 margin of victory for Roanoke.

BY THE NUMBERS

• Roanoke made 51.7% of its shots from the field while holding the Royals to just 42.9%.
• The Maroons led EMU in free throws (7-6), rebounds (35-28), assists (20-13), points off turnovers (16-8), 2^nd chance points (13-2), points in the paint (46-14), fast break points (11-0), and bench points (35-23).
• The Royals led the Maroons in three-pointers made, 13-7
• In total there were seven different lead changes and four ties throughout the game.
• In addition to Kuthan's 19 points, Kasey Draper added 16 and Rosenthal scored 11.

UP NEXT

• The Maroons hit the road this weekend with a visit to Virginia Beach to take on Virginia Wesleyan on Saturday, January 7. Tip-off with the Marlins is scheduled for 2 p.m.