Hampden-Sydney Basketball brushed off a slow start and overcame an 18-point first half deficit to defeat Randolph College 69-63 on the road. 

THE BASICS

• Final Score: Hampden-Sydney 69, Randolph 63
• Records: H-SC 6-6, 2-1 ODAC; Randolph 4-8, 1-2 ODAC
• Location: Lynchburg, VA – RAD Center

HOW IT HAPPENED

• The WildCats took it to the Tigers from the beginning as they scored the first 11 points of the game and held H-SC without a field goal for the first 6:42 of the game, building up a 16-2 lead
• Randolph pushed their lead out to 18, 24-6, at the 10:49 mark following back-to-back layups by Nick Goble
• The Tigers began chipping away at the lead from there and a 13-3 run over four minutes saw the Tigers trim the deficit to eight, 27-19, at 6:42 after consecutive layups from Josh Katowitz
• Ryan Fields put the WildCats back in front by double digits with a layup and Jacoby Reid made it a 12-point game with a jumper at 5:50
• Up nine with 1:34 remaining in the half, Randolph scored the last four points of the half to go into intermission with a 37-24 lead
• H-SC opened the second half much improved compared to the first as the Tigers scored the first six points to find themselves down just seven, 37-30, at 18:38
• Randolph responded in kind and led by 12, 47-35, in just over five minutes.
• The Tigers took over the contest from there, and from 14:48 to 6:55 left in the game, Randolph was limited to just three points while H-SC scored 19 to surge ahead 56-50.
• During the run, Randolph shot 1-8 from the floor, 1-4 on free throws, and committed five turnovers. Meanwhile, JaVonte Reddick scored eight points and Hunter Kuehn added on four
• Randolph ended the bleeding on their next possession on a Ryan Fields layup. They then forced a Tigers missed shot, and Fields scored again to make it a two-point game with six minutes to play
• With H-SC leading 62-59 at 4:18, Fields scored the next four points to briefly give Randolph the lead again with 2:34 remaining
• Guilherme Guimaraes reeled in an offensive rebound and converted a layup on the Tigers next possession, and the Tigers forced a missed three pointer from the WildCats then secured the defensive rebound at 1:24
• Following a timeout, Jake Duncan got off a layup shortly before the shot clock was set to expire. He missed the shot but drew iron to reset the shot clock, then he grabbed the offensive rebound and recorded the putback to provide H-SC a three-point lead with 49 seconds left on the clock
• Fields missed a jumper with 35 seconds to go, and Justin Reid reeled in the defensive rebound. Randolph was forced to foul after being unable to force a turnover and Reddick sank two clutch free throws to give H-SC a five-point cushion, 68-63, with only 20 seconds to play.
• Hampden-Sydney forced a Jacoby Reid missed layup and grabbed the rebound to seal the victory

TIGER TOP PERFORMERS

• Justin Reid played a season-high 20 minutes and answered the call of duty with a career-high 10 points to go with three rebounds and two steals. He converted five of his six field goal attempts
• Logan Samuels tallied a team-high 13 points, shooting 5-7 from the floor
• Reddick scored 10 points, all in the second half, as he shot a perfect 3-3 overall, 2-2 from three range, and 2-2 at the foul line
• Katowitz recorded 10 points and six rebounds
• Guimaraes posted eight points and a game-high eight rebounds

FOR THE FOES

• Fields poured in a game-high 27 points along with five boards and three assists. He shot 11-18
• Reid Jacoby contributed 12 points and seven assists but had six turnovers and shot 4-15, including just a 1-8 mark from two-point range

STATS OF THE GAME

• After making four of their first six shot attempts beyond the arc in the first six minutes, the WildCats shot just 3-16 over the final 34 minutes. Additionally, Randolph shot only 34.6% overall in the second half
• After struggling to score only 24 points on 28% shooting overall and 8% from three in the first half, H-SC torched the nets to the tune of a 63% shooting performance after halftime to score 45
• H-SC finished the game connecting on 45% of their field goal attempts but was just 3-18 from three range. Randolph finished 41% overall and 32% from deep
• The Tigers registered just five assists compared to 14 for the WildCats
• H-SC excelled in the turnover department, record just eight while converting 12 WildCat turnovers into 20 points
• Hampden-Sydney controlled the paint, outscoring Randolph 44-28

NEXT GAME

• Hampden-Sydney travels to Roanoke College on Saturday for a 4:30 pm contest.