The Roanoke College men’s basketball team will be back home this Saturday to host Lynchburg College in their first game of the new year. Game time is 1 pm at the Cregger Center in Salem.

The Maroons are 8-4 after splitting two games in the Tournament of Heroes event in Staten Island, NY last weekend. The Maroons lost to Oneonta on Friday night, December 29, 65-59, before bouncing back to beat host Staten Island on Saturday, 77-73.

On Friday against Oneonta Josh Freund led RC with 13 points. Joey Miller came off the bench to score 11, while Caleb Jordan and C.J. Miles each had 10 in the loss. Freund also grabbed a game-high nine rebounds for RC.

The Red Dragons held a 63-52 lead with 2:48 remaining. Colton Reed‘s three-pointer jump-started the final push that saw Roanoke get to within seven points with 42 seconds left on the clock and Miles made a three to put Roanoke in striking distance at 64-59 with 36 seconds remaining.  Miles missed a layup with 18 seconds left and sophomore Ian Schultz made 1-of-2 free throws to give Oneonta its six-point cushion.

On Saturday Freund had 21 points and 10 boards against Staton Island, connecting on 9-of-16 shots on the day. He was one of three Maroons in double-figures as Miles had 14 points while Miller came off the bench to score 18 in the win.

With the score tied up at 19 with 8:19 left in the first-half, RC went on a 12-2 run, taking a 31-21 lead on a Freund bucket at the 5:16 mark. RC would lead 37-32 at the break and would open up a 39-32 lead on a Freund basket in the opening seconds of the second-half.

Staten Island would battle back and tie the game at 39-39 with just over 17 minutes to play. The game would be tight throughout the second-half. With the score tied at 69, Freund gave RC the lead for good with a basket at the 3:38 mark. Miller then extended the lead to four with a pair of free-throws with just over three minutes to go.

Staten Island cut the lead to 75-73 with just 48 seconds to go but Miles knocked down a jumper with 22 seconds remaining to seal the win.

After Saturday’s game against Lynchburg the Maroons will hit the road for a trip to Emory & Henry on Tuesday,  January 9. They’re back home to host Virginia Wesleyan at 1 pm on Saturday, January 13.