Roanoke lets big lead slip away in NCAA loss to Catholic

The Roanoke men’s basketball team let a 19 point lead slip away, then lost in overtime in the NCAA Division III basketball Sectional Tournament in Harford, Connecticut last Friday. That ended the most successful RC season in years with a 25-6 final record.

The Maroons were in the “Sweet 16” for the first time since 1996 and for the first half and beginning of the second they appeared bound for the round of eight. RC opened a 38-25 lead at inter-mission as sophomore Gavin O’Malley scored the last six points of the half, then RC scored the first six points of the second half to open a 19-point lead at 44-25.

However, the Cardinals chipped away at the Maroon lead and made it a single-digit edge, 54-46, with 13:15 remaining. Catholic tied the game at 76-76 with a 9-0 run with 1:59 left in regulation. Roanoke senior Joshua McClary scored on back-to-back pos-sessions to give RC an 80-78 advan-tage, but Dan Buckley answered with a layup to tie the game with 25 seconds left. Roanoke couldn’t convert in the closing seconds and the game went into overtime.

The Maroons scored the first four points of overtime but Catholic netted the next nine to go ahead 89-84 with 1:16 left. A McClary three pointer cut the edge to 93-91 with 15 seconds left but Catholic sealed the game at the free-throw line and forced a late turnover.

“Give Catholic credit for continuing to battle,” said RC coach Clay Nunley.

“Really proud of how we started the game. In the second half some defen-sive breakdowns and fouling caught up to us and we weren’t able to put them away.”

McClary finished with a team-high 27 points and added five rebounds and five assists in his last game as a Maroon. This week he was named second-team District 6 by the National Association of Basketball Coaches (NABC) and second-team Region 6 by D3hoops.com. McClary finished his Roanoke career with 1,159 career points, 29th in school history. He ranks second all-time with 412 career assists and is eighth with 157 steals.
O’Malley posted 22 points and eight rebounds, shooting 9-of-14 from the field, against Catholic. Marcus Morgan had 14 points, four rebounds and four assists and Caleb Franze had 14 points. CJ Ruoff scored a game-high 36 points for Catholic (25-5), hitting 6-of-11 from three-point range.

Roanoke’s 25 wins are the most for the program since the 1993-94 season. The Maroons lose just two seniors, McClary and Joshua Morse.

“The season was a tremendous suc-cess,” said Nunley. “ For our guys to win 25 games against one of the tougher schedules in the country and make a run to the Sweet 16, I couldn’t be prouder of them. Hopefully this season gives our returning players con-fidence in what they’re capable of and that their hard work can be rewarded. I’m looking forward to seeing what the returning group can accomplish.”