No one is hotter than the Maroons as the Old Dominion Athletic Conference Tournament comes to Salem this week.
On the heels of nine consecutive conference wins, the Roanoke College men have the second seed in the tournament. RC (18-7) finished the regular season 11-5 in league play to finish in a four way tie for second-place and will play Friday at 6:00 p.m. at the Salem Civic Center against seventh seeded Lynchburg College.
The Maroons ended the regular season with a win at Hampden-Sydney last Saturday, taking a 76-57 win on the Tigers’ home court. Roanoke outscored the Tigers 51-29 in the second half behind 17 points from C.J. Miles and 14 from Josh Freund. Miles finished the game with 20 points and Freund with 22 along with 12 rebounds. Colton Reed came off the bench and scored 15 points, with five made three-pointers, while Joe Mikalauskas added 11 points.
Through the first 15 minutes of play, neither team was able to take more than a three-point lead before HSC made back-to-back three points to take a 23-16 advantage with 4:03 left in the half. With the scored tied 35-35 less than five minutes into the second half, Mikalauskas made a jumper followed by a three from Miles to give RC a 40-35 advantage.
With 12:47 remaining, a layup from Freund sparked a 9-0 run before Reed capped it off with a three to make it 53-39.
Roanoke maintained the lead throughout the rest of the game with Eli Sumpter making a three-pointer in the final 14 seconds to close out the win.
The win, Roanoke’s ninth straight, gave the Maroons the number two tournament seed after winning the four-team tie-breaker. The Maroons went 4-2 in head-to-head competition amongst the other three tied teams — Emory & Henry College, Virginia Wesleyan University, and Washington and Lee University. E&H and W&L went 2-2 in that group, requiring a further step to separate the Wasps from the Generals. W&L’s win over E&H in their only regular season meeting awards the Generals the three seed, while the Wasps sit fourth and receive the remaining bye thru the first round.
Virginia Wesleyan, who went 1-3 in that tied scenario, was one of four first-round hosts on Tuesday as the fifth seed and the Marlins were upset by Randolph College, 57-54. Other first round games had Lynchburg over Hampden-Sydney, 84-63, Eastern Mennonite over Bridgewater, 70-67, and Guildford over Shenandoah, 89-78.
Tuesday’s winners will join the top four seeds in Salem at the Salem Civic Center for the quarterfinals on Friday, February 23. Semifinals will be on Saturday, February 24, followed by the championship game on Sunday, February 25.
2018 ODAC MEN’S BASKETBALL TOURNAMENT
First Round – Tuesday, February 20 – at highest seeds
Game 1: #9 Eastern Mennonite 70, #8 Bridgewater 67
Game 2: #12 Randolph 57, #5 Virginia Wesleyan 54
Game 3: #10 Hampden-Sydney 63, #7 Lynchburg 84
Game 4: #11 Shenandoah 78, #6 Guilford 89
Quarterfinals – Friday, February 23 – Salem Civic Center
Game 5: Eastern Mennonite vs. #1 Randolph-Macon – 1:00 p.m.
Game 6: Randolph vs. #4 Emory & Henry – 3:00 p.m.
Game 7: Lynchburg vs. #2 Roanoke – 6:00 p.m.
Game 8: Guilford vs. #3 Washington and Lee – 8:00 p.m.
Semifinals – Saturday, February 24 – Salem Civic Center
Game 9: Winner Game 5 vs. Winner Game 6 – 6:00 p.m.
Game 10: Winner Game 7 vs. Winner Game 8 – 8:00 p.m.
Championship – Sunday, February 25 – Salem Civic Center
Game 11: Winner Game 9 vs. Winner Game 10 – 3:30 p.m
