LEXINGTON, Va. – Staring down the barrel of their largest halftime deficit all season, the Guilford College men's basketball team (11-10, 5-7 ODAC) stormed back in the Duchossois Athletic & Recreation Center on Saturday afternoon, eradicating a 17-point deficit halfway through to take the lead at one point, but Washington & Lee University (16-5, 8-4 ODAC) held on to the Old Dominion Athletic Conference (ODAC) victory, 97-96 in Lexington, Va.
The box score was as narrow as final tallies would suggest as the Quakers took 13 extra shots and made them at a .413 rate while W&L finished .493. Free throws were even with 23 tries each, with the hosts making 16 and the guests connecting on 18 while W&L made their 15 threes at a .469 percentage against GC's 12 makes on .429 from deep.
This Saturday was unfortunately déjà vu for
Braylen Salters (Cleveland, Ohio) compared to last Saturday, as he near single-handedly willed the Quakers back in the game, scoring 23 of his game-high 34 points in the second stanza, finishing 10-of-23 overall, 6-for-12 from three and 8-of-9 from the line, albeit in another defeat. The sophomore added a game and season-high seven assists while finishing matched for the game-high with seven boards.
Ke Edwards (Hickory, N.C.) continued his reserve brilliance, also grabbing seven caroms while making 9-of-14 to score 23 points and tacking on two blocks and two steals.
Gabe Proctor (Apex, N.C.) continued his hot shooting in lower volume, making 4-of-6 overall and 3-for-5 at range to net 14 points before fouling out and
Dawson Edwards (Durham, N.C.) netted 10 points along with six boards and three steals in the game.
Sharpshooter John Loughlin led W&L with 24 making 8-of-14 with all his shots from three in the game. Connor Amorosi added 17 points, five rebounds, four offensive, three assists, a block, and three steals. A.J. Thomas netted a dozen while Bryce Breeden and Conor Roberton combined to make 9-of-10 to score 22 points for the Generals in reserve. Roberton led the hosts with five assists while Colin Ryan grabbed a team-best seven rebounds.
In what finished as an enormous scoring affair, it was the defenses that set the tone as Loughlin hit a second-chance three on the games opening possession then the next basket did not come until the 16:13 when Amorosi made a two then
Christian Bacon (Lithia Springs, Ga.) finally got GC on the board with a pull-up jumper into the under-16 break. As the offenses warmed up, Guilford narrowed it to a 19-17 score midway through the period before the Generals made a run. A Thomas jam ignited a 24-9 stretch that Salters mercifully ended with four-straight out of the under-four timeout including the second of his two makes from the field in the half. A Proctor three-point play and a cluster of
Ke Edwards points narrowed the score some to 53-36, but Washington & Lee had built the largest halftime advantage against the Quakers all year.
Opening the second half, it was the initial impression that Guilford would go quietly as the hosts scored four-straight to get their lead to a game-high 21 tallies, but GC opened an expressway to the rim and began chipping away. An 8-4 chunk of point-blank Quaker tallies preceded consecutive treys by Proctor and Salters before Loughlin got one from three, but Proctor answered with another one as the guests trimmed seven points off the disadvantage in barely over two minutes into the media timeout. W&L netted five of the ensuing six but a 15-7 GC stretch that included two Salters threes and another from Bacon suddenly got the lead down to 10 with 10 to play. Amorosi got a three-point play, but another six-consecutive got it to single-digits. Robertson made a layup but a 12-2 cluster capped by a
Reynolds Escher (Atlanta, Ga.) layup finished the Quaker comeback. Amorosi converted a three-point play then Salters connected on a long trey, into the final media stoppage, but unfortunately, GC just ran out of steam. Amorosi tied it at the stripe and Ryan reclaimed a Generals lead with a two before
Ke Edwards retied it at 89 but a Roberton three proved to be the dagger, as Guilford never got even again and ultimately, a lane violation on GC with 5.7 seconds left nullified a missed W&L free throw was costly as Ryan converted his second chance at the stripe, making
Dawson Edwards' last-second layup fruitless in a 97-96 final.
Guilford travels to No. 17 Roanoke for an ODAC Championship rematch next on Wednesday, February 11
th at 5:00 PM.
#GoQuakes
