by Brian Hoffman
The Roanoke College men won the first Frankie Allen Tip-Off basketball tournament at the Cregger Center in Salem last weekend. Roanoke beat Alfred on Friday night and Salisbury on Saturday to take the title.
The Maroons got their home season off to a fast start with an 87-56 win over Alfred. Kasey Draper led RC with 21 points and Justin Kuthan had seven rebounds. The Maroons shot 55.7 percent from the field for the game on 34-for-61 shooting while also going eight-for-20 from beyond the arc.
That set up a Saturday championship game with Salisbury, and the Maroons won the tournament with an 81-59 win. The Seagulls scored the first four points and led by as many as five at 11-6, but the Maroons held Salisbury scoreless from 15:03 until 6:50 while scoring 14 points during the stretch, taking the lead for good. The Seagulls scored only seven more points the rest of the half with the Maroons having the 33-19 lead at the break.
Draper led the Maroons again with 15 points while Kuthan had 13 and Zach Rosenthal came off the bench to score 12. Kuthan also had seven rebounds and he was named the MVP of the tournament. Rosenthal was also named to the all-tournament team.
Now 3-1, Roanoke is off until November 30 when they host Bridgewater for their ODAC opener.
