The Virginia Wesleyan University men's basketball team (13-5, 8-1 ODAC) defeated conference opponent 99-95.
The Marlins offense was led by
Omari DeVeaux, who had 29 points, shooting 9-for-15 from the field, and 11-for-13 from the free throw line, he grabbed six rebounds, three assists, and two steals.
TJ East continues his good run of play as he scored 22 points, shooting 7-for-10 from the floor, 1-for-2 from beyond the arc, and 7-for-8 from the charity stripe, with eight rebounds, four assists, and two steals.
Malcolm Velmar recorded 15 points shooting 3-for-8 from the field, 1-for-5 from three-point territory, and 8-for-9 from the free throw line, with two rebounds, two assists, and two steals, and teammate
Paul Anderson had 15 points shooting 5-for-7 from the floor, shot 1-for-2 from deep, and 4-for-4 from the charity stripe, had five rebounds, one assist, one block, and two steals.
The game started off with a splash as
Paul Anderson hit a three-pointer to start the contest, but the Quakers scored the next four points to take a 4-3 lead. Virginia Wesleyan responded with a 5-1 run to hold an 8-5 lead at the 17:34 mark. Guilford countered with a three-point play to tie the game at 8-8 with 17:25 left in the first half, but VWU answered with a 10-4 run to hold an 18-12 lead at the 14:43 mark. Over the next five minutes, the Quakers chipped away at the Marlins' lead and strung together a 12-7 run to cut the lead to 25-24.
Over the next two minutes, Guilford outscored the Marlins 11-7 with a three-pointer to give them a 35-32 lead with 6:15 left in the half. Virginia Wesleyan rallied, going on a 5-0 run to retake the lead at 37-35. The next three minutes were fast-paced, as Guilford outscored VWU 8-6, fueled by two three-pointers to tie the game at 43-43 with 1:08 remaining in the first half. In the final minute, the Marlins outscored the visitors 4-2 to hold a 47-45 lead heading into the break.
Coming out of halftime, both teams got hot early with each scoring six points to bring the score to 53-51 at the 18:13 mark. The Marlins rallied, going on an 8-2 run to increase their lead to 61-53 with 16:01 left in the half, but Guilford stopped the bleeding by outscoring the Marlins 5-4 to cut the lead to 65-58 at the 14:57 mark. However, Virginia Wesleyan countered with a 6-0 run to hold a 71-58 lead, but over the next three minutes, the Quakers went on a monster 12-2 run to cut the lead to 73-70 with 10:35 left in the half.
VWU responded with a 4-0 run to extend their lead to 77-70, but Guilford responded with a 6-2 run to bring the score to 79-76. Over the next three minutes, the Quakers outscored the Marlins 8-7 to bring the score to 86-84, but the Marlins countered with a 7-0 run to lead 93-84 with 2:48 left in the game. Guilford ended the Marlins' run with a three-pointer that sparked a 7-3 run that cut the lead to 96-91 at the 1:42 mark in the game. The Marlins played hard defense down the stretch that hurt them by giving the Quakers two free throw shots that they cashed in on to cut the lead to 96-93. However, the Marlins defense made a stop on the next possession, and
Omari DeVeaux made a layup with 11 seconds left to hold a five-point lead. Guilford responded with a layup as well to cut the lead to three points with five seconds on the clock, but to conserve time, the Quakers fouled
Omari DeVeaux, who made 1-of-2 free throws that sealed the 99-95 win over Guilford.
