HARRISONBURG, VA (February 3, 2008)�The Hampden-Sydney basketball team dropped to 10-8 overall and 4-8 in the Old Dominion Athletic Conference as the Tigers fell to the Eastern Mennonite Royals, 86-75, at Yoder Arena on Sunday afternoon. The Tigers and Royals battled to a 40-40 tie at halftime, but Eastern Mennonite tallied 46 points in the second half to earn the victory. The Tigers were led by Turner King (Roanoke, VA/Roanoke Catholic) as the sophomore guard finished with a game-high 33 points to go with six rebounds. With the win, Eastern Mennonite improves to 6-12 overall record and 3-9 in the ODAC.

Hampden-Sydney opened the game on a 4-0 run, but Eastern Mennonite would tie the game, 6-6, on a pair of three pointers. Over the next four minutes, the two teams would go back-and-forth, producing six lead changes and one tie until Eastern Mennonite took a six-point advantage, 19-13, at the 13:13 mark. Over the final 13 minutes, neither team would build more than a four-point lead, and the Tigers and Royals went into halftime tied at 40-40.

Hampden-Sydney took the lead on the first play of the second half on a lay-up by senior forward Troy Kaase (Roanoke, VA/Cave Spring), Eastern Mennonite answered with a 14-2 run to build a 54-44 lead. The Tigers would cut the lead to six points on a free throw by Jyri Laakso (Oulu, Finland/Makelanrinne), but the Royals pushed their lead to 13 points, 66-53, with just 8:39 left to play. Trailing 72-57, Hampden-Sydney went on a 15-6 run to get within eight points, 78-70, with under three minutes to play, but the Royals sank several free throws down the stretch to preserve the 86-75 win.

Hampden-Sydney had three players score in double-figures, led by King with 33 points, while Troy Kaase added 11 points and a game-high eight rebounds. Also scoring in double-figures for Hampden-Sydney was Byron Lawton (High Point, NC/Wesleyan Academy) as he finished with ten points. Eastern Mennonite was led by George Johnson who scored 20 points, while Brad Parkes added 18 points. D.J. Hinson and Corey Bailey finished with 16 and 12 points respectively.

The Tigers shot 44.3 (27-of-61) percent from the field, including 33.3 (7-of-21) percent from behind-the-arc, and 66.7 (14-of-21) percent from the charity stripe. Eastern Mennonite finished the game at 52.7 percent from the field and 53.3 percent from three-point range. The Royals connected on 71.4 percent of their free-throws. Hampden-Sydney held the advantage on the boards, 37-31.

The Tigers return to action on Sunday, February 9, at 2:00 pm as the Tigers will travel to Emory, VA to take on ODAC-foe Emory and Henry College. Fans can also catch all the exciting hardwood action on WFLO 95.7 FM or www.hsc.edu.