HARRISONBURG, VA (January 2, 2010)—Hampden-Sydney jumped out to a 6-0 lead against Eastern Mennonite, but the Runnin' Royals showed why they stand at 9-1 and 3-0 in the ODAC by responding with a 13-0 run, earning an early 13-6 lead that they would never relinquish.

Senior Karlis Trops (Riga, Latvia/Charlotte Latin) broke the Tiger scoring drought with two free throws at the 14:20 mark to put the game within five points. Minutes later, Trops came at the Royals again with a tree pointer that cut the Tiger deficit down to three.

Eli Crawford then scored five consecutive points in an 8-2 run in favor of Eastern Mennonite. A Ben Jessee (Midlothian, VA/Cosby) jumper put the Tigers within seven at 24-17 at the 10:09 mark, but Eastern Mennonite pushed the lead to as much as 32-19.

Senior guard Turner King (Roanoke, VA/Roanoke Catholic) cut back into the lead with three free throws to put the Tigers back within single digits. Then back-to-back baskets from Harrison George (Raleigh, NC/Leesville) and Colin O'Neill (Fort Leavenworth, KS/Fort Leavenworth) brought the score to 33-26.

Orie Pancione put the Royal lead back to nine, but King refused to back down. The senior scored the Tigers' next six points bringing his team within three at 35-32.

Eastern Mennonite pushed the lead back to seven, but the Tigers, behind five points from Trops improved a little cutting their deficit to 43-38 at the half.

Though Jonathan Mudd (Miami, FL/American) hit the first jumper of the second half, Eastern Mennonite used the next four and a half minutes minutes to push its lead to 13 with a 58-45 advantage.

Jessee hit a triple at the 13:17 mark to put the game back within 11, but George Johnson returned the favor with a three of his own extended the Royal lead to 68-54. Eastern Mennonite then slowly stretched its lead to 15, but consecutive baskets from Patrick Corrigan (Richmond, VA/Collegiate)and George put the Tigers down 11 at 75-64 with just over nine minutes to play.

The Royals used the next three and a half minutes to score seven unanswered points for their biggest lead to that point at 82-64.

The final five minutes saw the two teams trade baskets with the Tigers falling 88-71.

King led the Tigers with 21 points while Trops and George each added 11 points. George also led the game with nine rebounds, including four on the offensive end. As a team, Hampden-Sydney was 29-of-59 (49.2%) from the field while connecting on 11 of its 15 free throw attempts.

Eastern Mennonite had five players in double figures including Eli Crawford, who tallied 21 points and seven rebounds. Todd Phillips had 19 points, George Johnson had 15, Austin Twine had 14 and D.J. Hinson added 10 points.

The Tigers out rebounded the Royals 35-26, but had 18 turnovers to the Royals' 11.

Hampden-Sydney, which falls to 5-6 and 1-2 in the ODAC, returns home for its next contest against arch-rival #4 RandolphRandolph-Macon (10-0, 2-0). The Tigers and Yellow Jackets will meet on Wednesday, January 6. Tip off is set for 7:00 pm.