The Roanoke College men’s basketball team went 2-0 in Old Dominion Athletic Conference games last week to hang tough in the conference race. The Maroons are one of three teams with two ODAC losses, close on the heels of 6-1 Virginia Wesleyan.
Roanoke hammered the University of Lynchburg, 92-68, behind a 31 point performance by Jackson Bell last Wednesday, January 21, in Lynchburg. Caleb Franze scored 18 points and Marcus Morgan had 13 points, five assists and three steals for the Maroons.
On Friday evening Roanoke was back home to play a game originally scheduled for Saturday afternoon, but moved up due to the impending winter storm. A balanced scoring attack and stingy defense led the number 22 ranked Maroons to a 74-57 win over visiting Bridgewater College. A total of 10 Maroons got in the scoring column, including seven with six points or more.
The Eagles led 5-1 in the early going before a 17-2 run by the Maroons gave them an 18-7 lead with 11:37 left in the first half. Zach Rosenthal had a personal 9-0 surge within that run, nailing three successive shots from behind the three-point arc. Roanoke led 36-21 at halftime and scored the first seven points after intermission. The Maroons led by as many as 27 points in the second half.
Franze scored a game-high 15 points, hitting four three pointers. Morgan netted 12 points and Tyler Barnes delivered 10 points and eight rebounds in just 15 minutes of game time.
With the win the Maroons improved to 6-2 in ODAC play and 13-4 overall. They were scheduled to take a four game winning streak to Randolph College Wednesday, then host Averett University this Saturday at 2 pm. Averett is 11-4 overall and 4-3 in the conference.
After this weekend the Maroons will make trips to Washington & Lee and Eastern Mennonite on February 4 and 7, then finish the regular season with four straight home conference games.
