NORFOLK, VA - Virginia Wesleyan topped Hampden-Sydney Basketball 68-58 on Wednesday night. H-SC is now 14-10 and 7-8 in the ODAC while VWC moves to 20-4, 12-3. 

With Hampden-Sydney trailing 10-9 at 14:49, the Tigers scored eight of the next 11 to go up 17-13 with 11:58 left in the first half. H-SC continued to lead by five, 21-16, at 9:16, but the Marlins used an 11-0 run to surge ahead 27-21 with 5:54 left in the opening frame. They would push the lead out to 10 with 3:20 remaining, but Hampden-Sydney closed out the half on an 8-0 spurt to trail just two, 35-33, at intermission. 

Still trailing by two just over three minutes in, a quick 7-0 outburst from VWC put them back ahead 46-37 at the 14:36 mark. The Tigers scored the next six to draw within three, but consecutive baskets from Nick Doyle and a three from Cameron Owens made it an 11-point game, 54-43, with eight minutes to play. H-SC trimmed the deficit to six with a little under five minutes left, but VWC pushed it back to 10 with 2:15 left.  

Back-to-Back three pointers from Greg Lewis (Mechanicsville, VA / Hanover) and Jake Duncan (Williamsburg, VA / Williamsburg Christian) surrounding a Brevon Lyons jumper made it a 62-56 game at 1:18. The Tigers fouled and Lyons missed the front end of the one-and-one at 1:07. VWC grabbed the offensive rebound but turned it over six seconds later. The Tigers were unable to capitalize and turned over the ball. With H-SC forced to foul, the Marlins closed out the game by going 6-fot-6 on the free-throw line in the final minute. 

Duncan notched a team-high 16 points as he shot 5-11 overall and 4-6 from three to go along with five rebounds. Mike Murray (Norfolk, VA / Norfolk Christian) posted 10 points, seven boards, six assists, and three steals.  

Cameron Owens paced the Marlins with 19 points as he drained five long balls. Nick Doyle chimed in with 13 points, and Tim Jones added 14. Greg Montgomery reeled in a game-high 13 rebounds with 11 coming off the offensive glass. 

Virginia Wesleyan struggled to shoot, making just 33% of their total field goal attempts and 34% from three, but the Marlins grabbed 22 offensive rebounds that they converted into 17 second-chance points. Their three-point heavy attack resulted in 12 made three pointers but they went just 8-26 on two-point shots. The Tigers made 41% of their shots and went 8-19 from three but recorded just seven free throw attempts, making six, while VWC was 16-21. Virginia Wesleyan also capitalized on Tiger turnovers, turning 17 H-SC giveaways into 20 points as compared to just nine points off turnovers for H-SC.  

Hampden-Sydney closes out the regular season on Saturday for Senior Day with a 2 pm contest vs. Shenandoah University.