Posted: Feb 18, 2015
With the loss, Roanoke currently sits in 10th In the ODAC standings, with seeds five through eight hosting an ODAC Tournament Opening Round Contest on Monday, February 23rd. The Maroons would need a lot of help to host a first round contest on Monday, but it is looking as though Roanoke will be on the road to start the tournament. In the Maroons' regular season finale, they will take on Eastern Mennonite, who is looking for a first round bye being tied with Lynchburg for fourth with an ODAC record of 8-7. The Maroons defeated Eastern Mennonite, 81-80 on December 6th of this season, and will look to repeat the overall result on Saturday.
Julian Ramirez led the Maroons with 15 points, finishing the game 7-12 from the field. He also led the Maroons with four assists and three steals. Ramirez, who was one of four seniors recognized as part of Senior Day festivities on Wednesday, ranks third all-time at Roanoke College in assists, dishing out 385 over his career. He is also eighth in school history in steals with 156 over his four years of play. Also celebrating Senior Day were Andrew Daniels, Daniel Eacho and Alex Weant. Eacho finished the game with 13 points and four rebounds. He moved up one spot in the all-time scoring list, now with 1,274 career points. He also ranks 10th all-time at Roanoke in rebounds, pulling down 709 over four years.
Alex Weant finished the game with five points, four rebounds and one block. Weant ranks 25th all-time at Roanoke in blocked shots, swatting away 38 attempts. He is having his best scoring average for a season in 2014-15 (5.1) as well as his best rebounding year (2.7 RPG). Andrew Daniels put up just two points with four rebounds, before going down with an injury early in the second half. Daniels is among the top-10 all-time three point shooters at Roanoke, ranking ninth in three pointers made, hitting 125 over his career. Daniels has put up his best scoring year of his career with 351 points, putting him just 42 points away from 1,000 with 958 career points.
Roanoke trailed by 11 midway through the first half, until some spectacular plays by Julian Ramirez. Ramirez put together seven of nine unanswered Roanoke points over a two minute span, including back-to-back steals that turned into layups. With 7:16 to play, the Maroons were back within two points, 23-21. Those nine points were part of a 13-0 run for the Maroons, where Roanoke took a 25-23 lead off of a Fitchett layup with 4:43 to play. Roanoke would take the lead two more times through the half, but entered the locker room tied with the Generals 29-29 after the first 20 minutes.
The two teams traded baskets back and forth in the opening two minutes, as W&L's Douglas hit a trey, which was answered less than a minute later by Carter Wright with a trey of his own. Cameron Smith and John Fitchett combined for four more points to take what would become Roanoke's largest lead of 40-36. But the Generals got hot over the next six minutes, going on a 17-2 run where Washington & Lee hit three different three-pointers to create separation from the Maroons. With 10:00 to play, Washington & Lee led 53-42. As Roanoke trailed by 11, Daniel Eacho scored seven of the Maroons next 11 points to get the team back within five, 60-55 with 5:32 to play. The Maroons continued to put Clayton Murtha on the free throw line, who was knocking down every attempt for the Generals. Roanoke continued to battle with Carter Wright hitting an old fashioned three-point play, but Washington & Lee hit their free throws down the stretch to hold on to the advantage, as Roanoke fell 72-64 on Wednesday.
The Generals were led in scoring by Clayton Murtha, who netted 24 points in the game. Murtha went 5-11 from the field, but a perfect 14-14 from the free throw line. He was one of four Generals to lead the team with six rebounds. Andy Kleinlein finished with 15 points, hitting a team high 3-6 from behind the arc. Darren Douglas was also in double figures with 12 points, hitting 3-9 from the field and 2-6 from the three-point line.
For the sixth time in eight games, the Maroons finished with a better shooting percentage than their opponents. The Maroons finished with a mark of 41 percent to Washington & Lee's 40.4 percent. The Generals also led in free throw shooting, 92.3 to 81.3 percent. The two teams tied in rebounding (35-35) and assists (10-10). Washington & Lee made the most of Roanoke's 16 turnovers, turning those into 18 points.
The Maroons return to action on Saturday, February 21st as they travel to take on Eastern Mennonite in the final game of the regular season. This will be the second game of a EMU/Roanoke double-header, with the women playing at 1:00 PM and the men following at 3:30 PM.
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