Marlins Rally for 71-63 Win at Roanoke

SALEM, Va. – The Virginia Wesleyan College men's basketball team rallied from a nine-point, second half deficit to defeat Roanoke College 71-63 in a Sunday afternoon Old Dominion Athletic Conference (ODAC) matchup.

The Marlins led 30-24 at halftime, but the Maroons went on a quick 9-3 run to tie the contest at 33 just 3:21 into the second half. John Caldwell had five points in the initial spurt, while C.J. Miles and John Fitchett had two each.

The run extended to 12-3 when Miles knocked down a three on Roanoke's next time up the floor to net a lead for the home team.

Khory Moore ended the scoring drought with a three-pointer of his own at 15:43 to even the contest back at 36-all, but Roanoke went on another 9-0 run over the next two minutes to go up 45-36. In all, the Maroons posted a 21-6 run over the first 6:35 of the second half.

The Marlins started to cut into the lead, scoring on their next three possessions as Keijon Honore made a layup, Tim Jones connected from three, and Moore converted a layup to cut the deficit to just two points, 45-43.

Roanoke held onto the slim lead over the next several minutes, leading 54-53 with 7:12 to play when a Marlin run put the game away for the visitors.

Three straight three-pointers, coming from Honore, Jones, and Andre Banks, put the Marlins up 62-54 with just over five minutes to play. The Marlins continued to score, holding the Maroons without a field goal until Miles connected from distance with 2:03 to play. His basket cut the deficit to 66-59, but the previous 13-2 Marlin run proved too much to overcome.

Caldwell led Roanoke (2-3/0-2) with 21 points and seven rebounds while Miles finished with 15 points.

Jones paced the Marlins with 21 points as Honore contributed 18 off the bench. Banks registered 12 points while Moore tallied 10 to go with a team-best seven rebounds.

The Marlins forced Roanoke into 19 turnovers, while committing just 13. VWC also shot 80% (12-15) from the free throw line against just 62.5% (15-24) for Roanoke.

Virginia Wesleyan (5-2/1-1) travels to Averett University (1-4) Wednesday for a 7 p.m. non-conference start.