HAMPDEN-SYDNEY, VA - Hampden-Sydney Basketball trailed by 17 points with 11 minutes left but a stifling full-court press helped the Tigers comeback to win 79-75 over Emory & Henry College in the ODAC Tournament First Round. The #6 seeded Tigers play the #3 seed Guilford College on Thursday at 8 pm.
The Wasps were scorching hot from three-point range in the opening half and took advantage of the long ball to dominate most of the first 20 minutes. The Tigers showed signs of life in the early going though. With E&H leading 14-11 at 11:45, the press created a couple turnovers, and H-SC went on an 11-9 run in just two minutes to go ahead 22-14 at 9:47. From there it was all Wasps as a plethora of triples and free throws sent Emory & Henry 31-10 run to go into halftime 45-30.
The Tigers went back into the full-court press and used it at every possible opportunity in the second half. H-SC scored the first basket of the frame on a Leon Hargrove (Raleigh, NC / Middle Creek) and then back-to-back forced turnovers led to five straight points for H-SC, cutting the deficit to eight at 45-37 and forcing an Emory & Henry timeout at 18:27. H-SC still trailed by eight, 49-41, at 15:57, but from there E&H caught fire from three again, draining three long range balls as part of a 13-4 spurt that put the Wasps out in front 62-45 with 11:10 to go.
Hampden-Sydney scored seven of the next nine to trail 64-52 at 9:03. Emory & Henry called a timeout to help stem the momentum, and it proved to work for three minutes. Despite Greg Lewis (Mechanicsville, VA / Hanover) converting on three consecutive three-pointers, the Wasps matched shot-for-shot and still led 71-61 at 6:12. Hargrove converted made the second of a two-shot foul at 4:43 to allow H-SC to get in the press, and Alex Smith (Whitsett, NC / T. Wingate Andrews) tapped the ball off Ryan Gravley and out of bounds on the baseline at 4:40. Guilherme Guimarães (Ribeirão Preto, Brazil / Miller School) made the Wasps pay with a layup off the inbounds pass, making it a 71-64 game at 4:38.
A minute later, Chase Branscomb got loose underneath the basket for a layup, but Lewis made his fourth three-pointer of the second stanza to draw H-SC within six at 2:41. Lewis then flipped it to Mike Murray (Norfolk, VA / Norfolk Christian) for the hoop and the harm. He made the free throw after the timeout, putting H-SC down just 73-70 with 2:28 left. H-SC got called for a foul in the bonus, and Gravley made two free throws at 2:16. Lewis missed a three-pointer on H-SC's next possession, but Hunter Kuehn (Raleigh, NC / Sanderson) came down with a tough offensive rebound, and Murray scored on a layup at 1:52 to draw H-SC within three.
Myles Turner missed a three from straight on as he was forced to put up a shot with the shot clock about to expire, and Murray secured the rebound at the 1:11 mark. H-SC ran the shot clock down to 16 seconds and 38 on the game clock and Head Coach Dee Vick called for a foul with the offense looking disorganized. With the shot clock down to just two seconds, Murray found Mitch Owens (Williamsburg, VA / Walsingham) for a layup, trimming the Wasps lead down to just one, 75-74, with 38 seconds left.
Emory & Henry asked for a timeout so they could set up a play against the full-court press, but Smith stole the ball from Turner in the corner and got the ball to Murray who layed it in to give the Tigers the 76-75 lead with 31 ticks left on the clock. H-SC then fouled while trying to deny the inbound pass. Turner went to the line for a one-and-one, but he missed the first and H-SC got the rebound. Hampden-Sydney was able to run 12 seconds off the clock before Hargrove was fouled in the double bonus. He missed the first and made the second, providing the Tigers a 77-75 lead with 19 seconds on the clock.
Turner forced up a contested, fadeaway, floating jumper from about seven feet out. Hargrove had to toe the baseline to get the rebound, but but he was forced to throw it back into the middle of the court to Lewis who sent it up to Murray who scored on a layup at the buzzer to secure the 79-75 win. Over the last 11:10 of the game, H-SC outscored E&H 34-13.
Murray posted team-highs of 19 points and four boards to go with four assists and two steals as he shot 6-8 overall, 1-2 from three, and 6-7 on free throws. Lewis contributed 15 points and added three boards, three assists, and three thefts. He now needs just 14 points to join the 1,000-point club. Hargrove score 10 points with four caroms, and Jake Duncan (Williamsburg, VA / Williamsburg Christian) tacked on eight points and a career-high seven assists. Smith was huge on defense, recording four thefts.
Kevin Anzenberger scored a game-high 21 points but did not record a single field goal attempt in the second half. He also handed out a team-best five assists. Turner scored 16 points to go with five rebounds, four assists, and five turnovers. Gravley added on 12 points.
Each team shot 55% from the floor, but E&H went 13-21 from three compared to 10-21 for the Tigers. The Wasps also held an advantage at the foul line, going 16-20 while H-SC was 11-19. Hampden-Sydney controlled the glass, holding a 28-19 advantage on the boards while allowing just one offensive rebound. While Emory & Henry had two more turnovers than Hampden-Sydney, H-SC made the Wasps pay, holding a 28-17 advantage in points off turnovers. Second-chance points also proved to be beneficial towards the Tigers, scoring nine while allowing zero. Emory & Henry didn't find much success at the rim, scoring just 10 points in the paint, but H-SC scored 32.
