by Brian Hoffman
The Roanoke men’s basketball team traveled north to the Big Apple for a contest at Pratt Institute. After some back and forth, the Maroons pulled away midway through the first half for an 84-42 win over the Cannoneers last Saturday afternoon in Brooklyn.
It was nearly two minutes into the game before either team scored with Tripp Greene hitting all three free throws to put the Maroons ahead. After going back and forth, Pratt stretched their lead to the largest they would have at six points at 13:52 of the first half but the Maroons responded with an 8-0 run to take a four-point lead at 11:59. Another run by Roanoke, this time by nine, gave RC the lead for good, followed by a 22-5 run for a 17 point halftime lead.
Roanoke shot 49.3% from the field (35-71) while holding Pratt to just 28.6% (16-56). The Maroons led the Cannoneers in nearly every offensive category including three pointers (10-4), rebounds (51-29), assists (21-9), bench points (38-14), steals (13-5), and points in the paint (44-20).
Marcus Morgan led Roanoke with 15 points and six rebounds while Kasey Draper nearly had a double-double with nine points and 10 rebounds. Zach Rosenthal and Justin Kuthan scored 12 points each and Tripp Greene added 11. In total, 11 Maroons scored while 13 grabbed a rebound.
The Maroons, now 7-1, also won their third ODAC game last week when they took a 79-73 win over Washington & Lee in Lexington. A quick start led to a large lead midway through the first half before the Maroons held on for the win. Draper and Kuthan led all scorers with a game-high 18 points each and were two of four in double figures. Rosenthal finished with 13 points and Joshua McClary finished with 11 for Roanoke.
After a break for final exams, the Maroons will travel south to Tennessee for a pair of contests before the Christmas holiday, starting with a game against Berry (Ga.) on Monday, December 19. The game will take place just outside of Nashville and is scheduled to get started at 11 am.