Week 8: W&L vs. Hampden-Sydney (8-7, 3-3)
Jan. 28 - Lexington, Va. - 7:00 pm, Jan. 31 - Lexington, Va. - 2:00 pm
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LAST TIME OUT Washington and Lee shot 52.3 percent from the floor and held Hampden-Sydney’s leading scorer, junior guard Turner King, without a point in posting a 73-60 victory over the Tigers in ODAC men’s basketball action on Saturday. The Generals won for the 11th time in their last 13 games. Neither team led by more than eight points in the first half and W&L carried a 31-25 advantage into the intermission. However, the Generals shot 57.1 percent in the final 20 minutes and opened the second stanza on a 12-6 run to push out to a 12-point lead (43-31) with 15:25 to play. Hampden-Sydney cut the Generals’ advantage to as few as eight points on several occasions, with the last occuring at 6:55 (56-48), but W&L junior forward Zac White hit a three-pointer on the next possession for a 59-48 lead and the Generals held a double-digit advantage for the remainder of the contest. White led W&L with 19 points on 6-of-10 shooting, including 3-of-4 shooting from three-point range. He also spent most of the game defending King, who averages 21.0 points per game. Senior forward Ben Heller posted 16 points and seven rebounds, while senior guard Chris McHugh chipped in 11 points and three assists. Hampden-Sydney was paced by junior guard Jonathan Mudd and first-year guard Ben Jessee, who scored 16 points each. Junior forward Lane Medlin notched 15 points, while sophomore forward Shane Payne added 10 points and nine boards.
THE HEAD GENERALAdam Hutchinson (Amherst '93) is in his sixth season as the head coach at Washington and Lee. Hutchinson has led W&L to a 51-89 (.364) record, including back-to-back-to-back seasons with double-digit wins for the first time since 1988-1991. For last season's winning effort (15-11), Hutchinson was honored as the ODAC Coach of the Year. In his 11 seasons as a head coach, Hutchinson claims an 84-156 (.350) overall record.
FIFTY NIFTYW&L's 68-66 win over Roanoke gave W&L head coach Adam Hutchinson his 50th win at the helm of the Generals. With the win, Hutchinson became just the sixth head coach in the 101-year history of W&L basketball to reach the 50-win plateau and the first since Verne Canfield did it during the 1967-68 campaign.
THE SERIESW&L and Randolph-Macon are meeting for the 72nd time. R-MC currently leads the all-time series 58-13 after the teams split last season's two contests. The Generals claimed a 77-75 overtime victory in last season's first encounter to snap a 43-game losing streak to the Yellow Jackets. Washington and Lee is squaring off with Randolph for the first time. Randolph, formerly Randolph-Macon Woman's College, coeducated in the fall of 2007 and is in its second season of men's basketball and its first season as a member of the ODAC.
LAST TIME VS. RANDOLPH-MACON (2/9/2008)Randolph-Macon shot 66.7 percent from behind the arc in the first half en route to posting a 78-66 victory over Washington and Lee. The Yellow Jackets sank eight three-pointers and led by as many as 10 points (32-22) with 6:41 remaining in the first half. The Generals then chipped away at R-MC’s lead, making it to a two-point game (32-30) at 3:51, but Randolph-Macon closed the half on a 9-2 run for a 41-32 lead at the break. R-MC held a double-digit edge much of the second half and led by as many as 19 markers (60-41) at 12:02. The Generals cut it to a nine-point game, 70-61, at 4:09, but got no closer as the Yellow Jackets cruised to the 12-point victory. The Generals were led by senior forward Greg Bienemann, who tallied 22 points and five rebounds. Senior forward Femi Kusimo notched 14 points and grabbed eight boards, while junior guard Chris McHugh chipped in eight points. Guard Justin Short led three Yellow Jackets in double-figures with 22 points. Guard David Carlson recorded 16 points, while senior forward Jeremy Dixon notched 14 points and 10 rebounds.
RANDOLPH-MACONRandolph-Macon scored 33 of the first 40 points of the game as the Yellow Jackets raced past visiting Randolph College, 78-45, on Saturday afternoon. R-MC allowed just two field goals over the first 13:37 of play, helping the Jackets open up the 33-7 advantage. A putback by sophomore guard Jordan Brown as the first-half horn sounded sent R-MC to the locker room with a 41-19 lead. The Yellow Jackets continued to build on their lead, opening up the second-half with a 12-3 run, taking a 53-22 advantage after a pair of free-throws from sophomore forward Danny Jones. The Jackets had four players in double figures led by senior guard Justin Short's 12 points. First-year guard Calvin Croskey matched his career-high with 11 points, while Jones added 11 points off the bench and sophomore forward Brandon Baxton chipped in 10 points. Short enters the contest ranked second in the ODAC in scoring (19.2 ppg) and leads the Yellow Jackets, winners of 12 of their last 13, with 3.4 assists and 1.7 steals per game. Brown is averaging 11.1 points per game and a team-high 2.0 blocks per game. Senior forward Boris Varela leads the Yellow Jackets with 5.8 rebounds per game
RANDOLPHRandolph-Macon saw 12 different players score, including four in double figures, as the Yellow Jackets posted a 78-45 ODAC win over Randolph on Saturday. The loss overshadowed a career day for WildCat first-year forward Derrick Woods-Morrow who finished with a career-high 21 points and 11 rebounds, his fourth double-double of the season. The WildCats could never get on track in the game as RMC came out strong leading 41-19 at the half. Randolph struggled taking care of the basketball committing 18 turnovers, leading to 22 Yellow Jacket points. The second half was much of the same, as R-MC never trailed in the game. The Yellow Jackets bench outscored the Randolph reserves 42-7 in the game. Sophomore guard Aurimas Lekavicius tallied eight points, while sophomore guard Pete Hamilton finished with six points including two three-pointers. As a team, the WildCats shot 30.9 percent (17-55) from the field and 21.4 percent (3-14) from behind the arc. Hamilton leads three WildCats averaging in double-figures with 12.4 points per game. Sophomore guard Timothy Clarke checks in at 11.9 points per night and Woods-Morrow is averaging 11.9 points and a team-high 8.4 rebounds per game. Additionally, Clarke is leading the ODAC with 4.1 assists per game.
STRONG START = STRONG FINISHW&L is 29-3 in its last 32 games (7-2 this season) when leading at the break and has compiled a 63-26 (.708) record over the past 11 years when it leads at the break. W&L has won a total of 84 games during that stretch, meaning that the Generals have led at halftime in 75 percent of their wins during the last 11 years.
THE ".700" CLUB The Generals opened the season 7-3, the first time since the 1989-90 season that W&L has won at least seven of its first 10 games and just the 15th time the feat has been accomplished since 1950. Since 1950, on every occasion that a Generals team has opened with at least a 7-3 record, that team has finished the season with a winning record.
BRUTISH BENSenior forward Ben Heller has been a large contributor to W&L's success this season. Heller has appeared in all 16 games thus far and is currently second on the team in scoring (9.4 ppg) and third in rebounding (4.3 rpg) despite playing less than 20 minutes per game. Heller is hitting on a team-high 55.2 percent of his field goal attempts (53-96). Additionally, he has scored in double-figures on six occasions, including a career-high 17 points at Ferrum. Entering this season, Heller had hit double-digits in scoring in just three of this first 60 games.
HANDLE WITH CAREIn its 73-60 win over Hampden-Sydney, W&L recorded 13 assists to just 10 turnovers. This was the second consecutive game that W&L had recorded more assists than turnovers after posting 14 assists and 10 turnovers in a victory over Roanoke. It was the second time that W&L has had more assists than turnovers in consecutive games this season and the fifth time overall.
BETTER LATE THAN NEVERFour times this season the Generals have trailed at the half and come back to win, including twice overcoming an 11-point halftime deficit. W&L trailed Connecticut College 28-17 at the break and wound up defeating the Camels, 60-52. Most recently, W&L trailed No. 18 Roanoke 39-28 at the break and came back to defeat the Maroons, 68-66.
RECORDS WATCHSenior guard Isaiah Goodman currently has 115 career steals. If he continues at his current pace of 1.6 steals per game over W&L's 10 remaining games, he will tie John Podgajny '76 for fifth all-time with 131 steals.
MEETING A STRANGERThe Generals' match-up with Randolph this week will be the first between the two schools. Under current head coach Adam Hutchinson, W&L has squared off against a new opponent on 16 occasions and has posted an 11-5 record in those games. The Generals are already 3-0 this season (Connecticut College, Delaware Valley, Kalamazoo) when playing a team that they have never faced before.
LOCKDOWN "D"When W&L meets R-MC this week it will mark the third-straight game that the Generals have faced one of the league's most prolific scorers.The Yellow Jackets boast senior guard Justin Short, who is third in the league with 19.2 points per game. Most recently, the Generals held the ODAC's leading scorer, Hampden-Sydney's Turner King, to zero points on 0-for-2 shooting. King had been averaging 21.0 points per game. Before that, Washington and Lee held Roanoke's Curtis Peery to just 12 points. Peery had entered that contest ranked third in the league in scoring at 19.4 points per game.
CAPTAIN CHRISSenior guard Chris McHugh is one of the unquestioned leaders of this year's team, but is leading the team in a rather dubioius category. On the season, McHugh is averaging 8.9 points and 2.9 rebounds per game. Upon closer examination however, McHugh is scoring a team-high 11.8 points and grabbing a team-best 4.5 boards in W&L's four losses. In the 12 wins this season, McHugh is averaging just 7.9 points and pulling down an average of 2.3 boards.
SEE ME NOWSophomore guard Jason Cimino sure made his presence felt in W&L's upset of No. 18 Roanoke. Cimino was a perfect 3-for-3 from the field (all triples) and 2-for-2 from the line for a total of 11 points. He added two rebounds, two assists and a steal in just 18 minutes of action. The 11 points marked a career-high. He followed that up with eights points in W&L's win over Hampden-Sydney. The two-game total of 19 points was just one fewer point than he had scored in the previous eight games combined.
COUNT ON KIRKSenior captain Kirk Jones has seen a rise in his playing time recently, having averaged 26.7 minutes per game while making four starts over the last six. In those six, Jones is averaging 10.2 points and 4.0 rebounds while providing several clutch plays. Jones hit the game-tying three-pointer with 27 seconds remaining in regulation and then hit the go-ahead three in the opening seconds of overtime as W&L defeated Lynchburg, 56-52. In the Generals' win over No. 18 Roanoke, Jones, a sub-40 percent free-throw shooter on the season, went 4-for-5 from the line, including a pair with W&L trailing by four with 1:54 remaining.
W&L DRAMAW&L players and fans alike may want to be sure their hearts are in good working order before checking out a game. The Generals have already posted four come-from-behind victories this season and as well as a record of 7-1 in games decided by 10 or fewer points. Additionally, W&L has twice won on the game's final shot as senior guard Chris McHugh hit a 35-footer as time expired to propel the Generals to a 76-74 win over Washington College and junior forward Zac White's layup with 1.7 seconds remaining lifted W&L to a 68-66 win over nationally-ranked Roanoke.
MARKSMENWhen W&L faces Randolph later this week, the ODAC's deadliest three-point shooters will be on display. Randolph's junior guard Jason Rutschman and W&L junior forward Zac White are ranked first and second in the league. Rutschman has connected on 54.5 percent of his treys (18-33), while White has hit on 48.0 percent of his attempts (24-50).
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