The Virginia Wesleyan men's basketball team (17-5, 10-3 ODAC) faced Averett University in one of their last conference match-ups of the season.
Amari Moorer led the Marlins with 20 points as he shot 9-for-15 from the field and 2-for-3 from the three-point line; Moorer recorded five rebounds, two assists, and one block.
Paul Anderson registered 15 points, shooting 6-for-10 from the field, 2-for-6 from beyond the arc, and 1-for-3 from the free throw line; Anderson tallied three rebounds, two assists, and one steal.
Waylo Wilson made the first basket of the game, and the Cougars quickly responded with a three-pointer. The Marlins went on to score back-to-back baskets to find a 6-3 lead, but Averett found success again from beyond the arc to tie the game at 6-6 with 17:29 on the clock. The game remained evenly paced until Averett strung together a 6-0 run to lead the Marlins 14-10.
TJ East responded with a three-pointer to narrow the visiting team's lead to one point.
Averett pulled ahead 23-16 with a 9-2 run between 11:42 and 8:38.
Amari Moorer responded with a layup and after a minute and a half long scoring drought,
Paul Anderson sunk a three-pointer to give the Marlins five points in a row. Their run was ended with a three-pointer from the Cougars found themselves ahead 26-21 with 5:51 left in play. VWU managed to prevent Averett from scoring for the remaining of the half, bridging the gap to 26-25 with the visiting team just a point ahead.
The Marlins had a strong start to the second half with a three from
Paul Anderson to give the Marlins their first lead since the third minute of the game. The Cougars followed up with a layup to level the score at 28-28 and continued to apply pressure to VWU. The Marlins gained momentum, scoring twelve points in a row to lead 45-32 with back-to-back dunks by Anderson. The home team continued to dominate the court and gained a convincing 21 point lead as
Demeir Pollard executed a three-pointer with 9:13 remaining in the game.
Neither team scored over two minutes until
Amari Moorer made a jumper with 6:59 on the clock, enlarging the VWU lead to 59-36. The Cougars outscored the Marlins 6-2 between 3:23 and 1:53 to bring the score to 66-47, but it was not enough to threaten the VWU lead.
Jordan Watlington scored the final three-pointer for the Marlins, and they won the game with a final score of 70-53.
The Marlins have three conference games until the ODAC tournament. Next, they will host Bridgewater College for senior day on Saturday, February 15 at 2:00 p.m.
