If you’re going to throw a going away party, make sure you have all the set-ups.
Solid defense, 81% free throw shooting, sixteen 3-pointers, 57% from the field and topping the century mark are good starters for an afternoon basketball gala.
Saturday afternoon in Roanoke College’s final men’s basketball game in the Bast Center, the Maroons had all those in place for their final sendoff of the 34-year old facility in front of a standing-room-only turnout.
Dominating the visiting Bridgewater Eagles from the outset, Roanoke pulled away in the second half to coast to the 104-67 ODAC win. Roanoke improved to 19-4; 11-3 ODAC.
“We knew what it meant,” Roanoke head coach Page Moir said of the Bast sendoff after the game. “The big crowd gave us a lot of energy. We were solid on defense, shot the ball well, hit our free throws and found the basket. Today, we executed and that’ll do it most of the time. They (Bridgewater) were missing a couple players, so we caught them short.”
Roanoke senior forward Cameron Smith got the party started with a quick 3-pointer, one of 16 on the afternoon for the Maroons, coming from 10 different players. Although Bridgewater answered with a trey from freshman guard Brandon Walters to tie the game at 3, Maroon senior Carter Wright (Hidden Valley HS) sank a pair of free throws moments later, and Roanoke would never trail the rest of the contest.
The Maroons led 26-11 midway through the opening half, and headed to the halftime break up 48-25. Roanoke was 16-for-31 from the field and a perfect 10-of-10 from the charity stripe in the first twenty minutes, while forcing 11 Eagle turnovers.
Roanoke lit it up to start the second half, and when Wright hit back-to-back bombs from behind-the-arc at the midway point of the half, Roanoke pushed its lead to 85-52.
With Roanoke substituting liberally down the stretch, the only question was when the Maroons would hit the century mark for the eighth time this season.Freshman guard Connor Whipp got the job done with 1:32 left when he hit a pair of free throws to put Roanoke up 101-60.
“Guys on the bench were shouting for me to break 100 for us,” Whipp laughed. “It’s special to be the one who put us over a hundred in the last game here. It was a team effort and we clicked today.Our defense pressured the ball well.”
Maroon senior Seth Bradley, who hit consecutive 3-pointers during the first-half onslaught, summed up the hot shooting which had been absent in recent Roanoke home games.
“I had confidence with the 3-pointers today, then everyone got hot. Same thing for our free throws. We practice those two things every day. We know to keep shooting, and the shots will start falling.”
Wright led the Roanoke offense with 19 points. Junior John Fitchett followed with 16, while freshmen John Caldwell and C.J. Miles added 13 and 10 points, respectfully.
DJ Caldwell led Bridgewater with 19 points, including 5 treys. Efe Balfour netted 14 for the Eagles, with Logan Seacrist canning 12 and Walters adding 11 points for the Eagles.
Bill Turner
(photo to follow separately)
