The Randolph-Macon College Men’s Basketball team knocked off No. 3 Virginia Wesleyan, 54-51, Wednesday evening ODAC Men’s Basketball action in Ashland.
The Yellow Jackets improve to 18-4 overall and 11-3 in the ODAC. VWC drops to 18-3 and 10-2 in the league. R-MC, which is currently ranked No. 4 in the first NCAA South Regional Rankings that were released on Wednesday afternoon, runs its home win streak to 22 games. VWC is ranked No. 2 in those same regional rankings. It is the sixth consecutive meeting between the two programs decided by three points or less.
Randolph-Macon got eight points from Lamar Giggetts and Andre Simon, while Akeem Holmes and Jamie Robinson each had six points in the win. Adam Desgain had eight rebounds and Andre Simon had seven to give R-MC a 43-38 edge on the glass.
The game was tight through the first 16 minutes of play. With the game tied at 21, R-MC reeled off 10 straight points, taking a 31-21 advantage on a jumper by Holmes with just under two minutes to play.
VWC scored six of the final eight points, trimming the R-MC lead to 33-27 on a Chris Astorga three-pointer with 15 seconds to go.
The Marlins continued their rally by opening the second-half on a 12-3 run to take a 39-36 lead early.
With VWC up 41-40, R-MC went on a 12-0 run and was able to pull in front 52-41 with 4:15 left on the clock when Marcus Badger drained a jumper.
The Marlins fought their way back, scoring the next 10 points, drawing within one at 52-51 after Donald Vaughan made a pair of free-throws with under a minute to go.
After Adam Desgain made a pair of free-throws with six seconds remaining, VWC’s DJ Woodmore had a chance to tie the game, but his shot went off the back rim and missed.
Virginia Wesleyan got 14 points from both Astorga and Vaughan. VWC shot just 29.1% from the floor, making 17-of-57 shots on the night. The 51 points, 17 made field goals and 29.1% shooting percentage are also season-lows for the Marlins.
Randolph-Macon will be back in action on Saturday when it hosts ODAC rival Roanoke at 3:30 p.m.
