Posted: Jan 22, 2011
HARRISONBURG, Va. --- Roanoke came back from a 14-point deficit in the second half and forced two overtimes before escaping Nunninger Hall with a 108-98 victory over Bridgewater Saturday afternoon. The Maroons improved to 8-8 overall, 4-4 in the ODAC. The Eagles slipped to 6-11, 2-6 in conference play.
Melvin Felix (Caguas, Puerto Rico, Salem), who led five Maroons in double-figures with a game-high 22 points, became the 32nd player at Roanoke with 1,000 career points. He overcame a poor shooting night (5-of-14) to dish out a team-best seven assists along with four rebounds. His 1,011 points passed Nathan Hungate (Roanoke, VA, Northside)'98 for 31st on the career scoring list. The senior captain hit 10-of-14 from the line and scored 20 of his 22 points in the final 16 minutes of the game.
Logan Singleton (Roanoke, VA, Hidden Valley), coming off his first collegiate double-double against Randolph, (18p, 10r) set a new career-high with 21 points and seven rebounds. The ODAC-leader in field goal percentage shot 9-of-12 from the floor including 3-for-3 from the charity stripe.
It was the first time since the January of 2009 (E&H) that the Maroons had two 20-point scorers and its first overtime win since knocking off SUNY-Cortland on Jan. 3, 2009. This also marks the first come-from-behind win since trailing Emory & Henry on Jan. 5, 2010.
The Maroons are now 101-32 all-time against Bridgewater all-time, 49-18 in the Div. III-era and 34-12 under Page Moir. Roanoke has won nine of the last 10 meetings since 2005 and avenged last season's 80-62 loss. The win improves the men's squad to 4-1 when playing on the road.
Down 38-26 at halftime and by as many as 14 early in the second stanza, Roanoke mounted a second-half comeback. Singleton's jumper capped a 23-7 run to take its first lead since early in the contest, 49-47 with 10:57 left in regulation.
Both teams traded buckets until the Eagles hit back-to-back three-pointers to take a six-point lead and held the Maroons at bay until a :11 seconds left in the second half.
After Kyle Hammond made both of his free-throws to give BC a 72-66 lead, Melvin Felix hit a deep three-pointer to cut the Maroons deficit in half. Ethan Humphries (Buchanan, VA, James River) forced a turnover and found Corey Poindexter (Pulaski, VA, Pulaski County/Hargrave), who hit a 40-foot prayer that went through the nets and forced overtime.
Roanoke was on the ropes again in the first overtime, down 87-82 with 31-seconds left. Matt Crizer scored a conventional three-point play off a tip-in and a made free-throw to make it a two-point game with 13 ticks left on the clock.
Bridgewater's Cody Griffith missed both free throw attempts as Felix grabbed the rebound and was fouled. He sank the first free-throw attempt but missed the second as Drew Maynard pulled down the rebound and was fouled.
The Eagles had another opportunity to put the game away with free-throws and again couldn't convert as Singleton fought for the loose ball rebound and was sent to the other end to shoot from the charity stripe. He would not disappoint as he sank both from the charity stripe and forced a second overtime.
The second overtime was all Roanoke, outscoring Bridgewater 20-10 to earn their fourth conference win of the season. The four ODAC wins are already more than all of last season.
Roanoke won the rebounding battle, 58-56 and shot 44.3% from the floor (35-of-79). After back-to-back games shooting poorly from the line, the Maroons hit 32-of-44 (72.7%) on the day. The Maroon defense held the Eagles to 35.3% shooting, including 3-of-24 (12.5%) from beyond the arc.
Crizer finished with 17 points and five rebounds on the afternoon, shooting 6-of-11 from the floor and 5-of-7 from the line. Kwasi Amponsah (Woodbridge, VA, Garfield) added 14 points and three steals while Terrell Johnson (Fredericksburg, VA, Riverbend) tossed in a season-best 10 counters (3-for-5) shooting 4-of-4 from the free-throw line and pulled down six caroms.
Clay Lacy (Roanoke, VA, Cave Spring) contributed seven points and a season-high eight boards as Poindexter chipped in eight makers and five rebounds.
Hammond and Rick Maloney led Bridgewater with 17 points each. Maloney had a double-double with 12 rebounds while Hammond led the Eagles with three blocked shots. Griffith poured in 16 points followed by Rashad Moore with 10. Justin Brake also manufactured a double-double with his 10-point, 10-rebound performance.
The men return to action on Wednesday, Jan. 26 as they travel north of Richmond to take on ODAC-power, Randolph-Macon, which are ranked #10 in the latest D3Hoops.com Top-25 poll. Tip-off is slated for 7 p.m. at Crenshaw Gym.
