The Virginia Wesleyan University men's basketball team (15-4, 8-2 ODAC) was defeated by No. 13 Randolph-Macon 56-49.
Omari DeVeaux led the team as he had 13 points shooting 4-for-9 from the field, 5-for-4 from the free-throw line, recorded three rebounds, and three assists.
Amari Moorer tallied 13 points shooting 6-for-11 from the field; grabbed six rebounds, one block, and two assists, and teammate
Khai Seargeant scored eight points shooting 3-for-9 from the field, 2-for-2 from the free throw line, and had one assist.
It was a hard-fought contest as both teams matched shot-for-shot in the first four minutes of the game, tying the game at 8-8. The Yellow Jacket scored the next bucket to lead 10-8, but the Marlins rallied and went on a 7-1 run to lead 15-11 at the 12:11 mark. Randolph-Macon responded with an 8-0 run to take a 19-15 lead with 8:46 left in the first half.
Virginia Wesleyan down four chipped away at the visitors' lead over the next six minutes, outscoring the Yellow Jackets 10-6 to tie the game at 25-25 with 2:21 left in the half. In the final minutes of the first half, Randolph-Macon went on a 4-3 run to lead 29-28 at the break.
The Yellow Jackets came out hot, stringing together a 7-2 run to start the second half to go up 36-30. After two scoreless minutes, Demier Pollard sunk two free throws that spark a Marlins 13-3 run with six points from
Amari Moorer to take a 43-39 lead midway through the second half.
Randolph-Macon made two quick shots to take back the lead at 44-43 with 8:59 left in the game. The next five minutes were all Yellow Jackets as they went on a 10-2 run to go up 54-45 with 2:10 left to play in the game. VWU outscored RMC 4-2 in the final minutes but lost 56-49.
