Hampden-Sydney Basketball defeated Virginia Wesleyan 76-69 on Wednesday night for the Tigers third straight win, just hours after the Marlins were ranked fourth in the South region of the NCAA regional rankings. 

THE BASICS

• Final Score: Hampden-Sydney 76, Virginia Wesleyan 69
• Records: H-SC 10-12, 6-7 ODAC; Virginia Wesleyan 15-7, 8-5 ODAC
• Location: Hampden-Sydney, VA – Fleet Gymnasium

HOW IT HAPPENED

• The game was closely contested throughout the night with neither team leading by more than 10 points, and the game was played within a seven-point margin or less for the first 19 minutes.
• Following a Percy Burt dunk at 9:52, a traditional three-point play by Malik Crute followed by a three pointer by Jake Duncan tied the game at 22-22 with 8:30 on the clock
• Duncan then followed up his own miss for an uncontested tip-in basket to give H-SC a two-point lead at 7:19. Andre Banks answered with a triple to briefly give the lead back to the Marlins, but Logan Samuels converted a layup to give the Tigers the lead for the rest of the half
• H-SC was up five at the 1:27 mark, but the Tigers scored the last five points of the frame to go into halftime leading 39-29
• Virginia Wesleyan came out the half firing on all cylinders and cut the deficit down to just three, 39-36, after just two minutes
• The teams proceeded to trade baskets for the next few minutes. Leading by three, 50-47, at 13:02, Hunter Kuehn finished an and-one opportunity and Duncan canned a three pointer to push the advantage to nine, 56-47, with 12 minutes left
• The Marlins managed to get the lead down to just 3-5 points on several possessions but were could get over the hump
• Virginia Wesleyan found themselves trailing by just three, 70-67, at 1:15, but Samuels scored a layup with 55 ticks left on the clock. The Marlins were unable to convert on their next trip down the court and were forced to foul the rest of the way as H-SC sealed the game on the free throw line 

TIGER TOP PERFORMERS

• Jake Duncan was on fire, making 10 of 12 field goals and four of six three pointers for 24 points along with tying for the game-high in rebounds with seven
• Logan Samuels contributed 17 points on 7-14 shooting with four boards and four assists
• JaVonte Reddick tallied nine points, four caroms, and three steals
• Malik Crute registered six points, a game-high seven rebounds, and two assists

FOR THE FOES

• The ODAC's leading scorer, Khory Moore, was held to just 16 points, his second-lowest point total of the season, and shot just 6-19 from the field
• Kaelin Poe added 16 points and seven rebounds
• Keijon Honore scored 12 

STATS OF THE GAME

• Virginia Wesleyan shot 44% overall, 9-30 from three, and made a season-low six free throws.
• H-SC connected on 50% of their shot attempts, went 6-16 from three, and made 12 of 18 free throws
• H-SC outrebound VWC 37-31 and allowed just six offensive rebounds
• The Tigers held a 42-28 advantage in points in the paint

NEXT GAME

• Hampden-Sydney travels to Shenandoah on Saturday for a 2 pm tip time.