VIRGINIA BEACH -- Virginia Wesleyan College's student body is developing a real liking for the dramatic flair in basketball.

Specifically, they love the dunks!

On Saturday, they were treated to a season-high seven slams as Virginia Wesleyan's No. 6 ranked Marlins put on a scoring clinic in a 92-60 Old Dominion Athletic Conference victory over the Maroons of Roanoke College.

A near-sellout partisan crowd assembled in the Jane P. Batten Student Center for the VWC Athletic Hall of Fame Game roared its approval with each electrifying dunk, highlighted by four powerful slams by junior Donald Vaughn (Woodbridge, Va./Dumfries Potomac) (left).  Sophomores Chris Teasley (Newport News, Va./Menchville) and Chris Astorga (Suffolk, Va./Virginia Beach Cape Henry) and rookie DJ Woodmore (Virginia Beach/Landstown) all produced dunks for the Marlins, who put down five in the first half en route to a 41-27 lead.

While dunking fired up the crowd, three-pointers kept them cheering.  The Marlins (19-1, 10-1) hit eight triples, including three each by junior Ed Roberts (Chesapeake, Va./Deep Creek)and Astorga.  Woodmore knocked in the other two to help the Marlins build a spread.

Roberts' first triple of the game pushed Roanoke (8-12, 4-8) into a double-digit deficit for good, as it put the Marlins in front 19-7 with 13:04 remaining in the first half.  The Maroons failed to get closer than 10 points the rest of the way.

An Astorga triple and Vaughn's third dunk of the half provided VWC with 16 point leads twice in the first half, its largest spread for the Marlins.  Scoring by Melvin Felix (Caguas, Puerto Rico/Salem, Va.), Logan Singleton (Roanoke, Va./Hidden Valley) and Matt Crizer (Covington, Va./Alleghany) helped Roanoke cut the spread to 13 points in the first six minutes of the second half.

But, that's as close as the Maroons could get as Virginia Wesleyan ignited a 22-9 scoring run that catapulted the Marlins into a 77-46 lead with 7:40 remaining to be played.  Roberts scored eight points in the big run that included seven Marlins in the scoring column.

A dunk by Astorga and jumper by junior Jason Burns (Clinton, Md./Frederick Douglass) provided VWC with its largest lead of the game at 85-50 with 5:12 on the clock.

Virginia Wesleyan outrebounded the Maroons 49-36, led by junior Ali Brown (Hampton, Va./Kecoughtan) with a career-high 10.  The Marlins also produced 17 assists, led by Tre'Ford (Falls Church, Va./J.E.B. Stuart) with five.

Astorga emerged as the leading scorer for VWC with 16 points, helped by a 6-of-10 showing from the field.  Teasley finished with 14 points, Woodmore with 13, and Roberts and Vaughn with 11 each.

Crizer and Singleton led Roanoke with 14 points each.  Felix finished with 12.

Virginia Wesleyan returns to competition on Wednesday, Feb. 9, hosting Randolph-Macon College at 7 p.m. in the Batten Center.

--AMDG--