Eastern Mennonite came back from a 15-point second half deficit to defeat Hampden-Sydney Basketball 74-68

THE BASICS

• Final Score: Eastern Mennonite 74, Hampden-Sydney 68
• Records: H-SC 6-9, 2-4 ODAC; Eastern Mennonite 8-7, 2-4 ODAC
• Location: Hampden-Sydney, VA – Fleet Gymnasium

HOW IT HAPPENED

• A tight game early, EMU led 10-9 at the 16:33 mark, but H-SC went on a 15-4 run to go out in front by ten, 24-14, at 11:06
• H-SC pushed their first half lead to as many as 12, 30-18, at 7:14 but the momentum changed when Guilherme Guimaraes turned his ankle after scoring 10 points. He would return in the second half, but the Royals registered 14 of the next 18 points to find themselves down just two, 34-32, with 1:37 left in the half
• H-SC finished off the half scoring the last two to go into the break leading 36-32
• The Tigers were on fire to open the second half. Up 47-41 at 15:17, JaVonte Reddick and Jake Duncan connected on three straight three pointers to put the Tigers up 56-41 with 14:11 left in the game.
• The Royals called a timeout and it proved to be a game changer. Just three minutes later, the Royals trailed by only five, 60-55, after two Josh Good free throws
• Jack Costigan scored a jumper on the next Tiger possession to put H-SC back up by seven, but EMU reeled off the next seven points to tie the game at 62-62 with 7:19 left on the clock
• H-SC regained the lead off a free throw apiece from Nick Chase and Logan Samuels, but Jerome Jones connected on a three pointer with five minutes to play to give Eastern Mennonite their first lead of the half at 65-64 with five minutes remaining
• Jerome Jones proceeded to convert a fallaway three pointer from the sideline at the shot clock buzzer to put the Royal ahead by five, 69-64, at 2:24 and they closed out the game at the free throw line from there

TIGER TOP PERFORMERS

• Guimaraes scored 14 points with a team-high six rebounds
• Duncan tallied 14 points and four rebounds
• Reddick contributed 13 points and two steals
• Samuels added five points and eight assists
• Hunter Kuehn scored eight points in 11 minutes

FOR THE FOES

• Isaiah Harris-Winn scored a game-high 18 points
• Jerome Jones scored 15 and grabbed eight boards
• Khalil Davis added 13 points

STATS OF THE GAME

• The Tigers scored 20 points in the first six minutes of the second half but managed only 12 points in the last 14 minutes. The Royals outscored H-SC 33-12 in the stretch
• Both teams shot 45% for the game but EMU went 10-24 on three pointers compared to 7-22 for H-SC
• Eastern Mennonite had a big advantage on the like, making 20 of their 28 attempts while Hampden-Sydney made only 13 of 24
• H-SC held a 26-16 advantage in points in the paint

NEXT GAME

• Hampden-Sydney travels to Lynchburg College on Wednesday for a 7 pm tip time.