The Virginia Wesleyan University men's basketball team (17-6, 12-2 ODAC) defeated Washington & Lee 76-59 on Senior Day. Before the start of the game, the Virginia Wesleyan Cheer and Men's Basketball programs honored their six-member senior class composed of: Ella Clingenpeel,
Omari DeVeaux,
Khai Seargeant,
Austin Smith,
TJ East, and
Amari Moorer.
Omari DeVeaux played excellently, as he tallied 29 points to reach 1,500 career points. He shot 11-for-19 from the field, 3-for-5 from beyond the arc, and 4-for-6 from the free throw line, with six rebounds, two assists, and two steals.
Paul Anderson played well as he recorded 11 points, shooting 4-for-6 from the field, 2-for-4 from three-point territory, and 1-for-2 from the charity stripe, wtih one assist, and a team high four steals.
Amari Moorer registered 10 points, shooting 3-for-8 from the field and 4-for-6 from the free throw line, 10 rebounds, two assists, and three blocks.
Khai Seargeant had 10 points, shooting 4-for-8 from the field and 2-for-6 from beyond the arc, with one assist, one block, and one steal.
TJ East tallied nine points, shooting 4-for-10 from the floor and 1-for-1 from the charity stripe, and had two rebounds.
The Generals started off jumping out to a 6-4 lead early in the game, but the Marlins made back-to-back threes to take a 10-6 lead at the 15:08 mark in the game. It was a hard fought battle, but the Marlins kept their lead and outscored the Generals 7-4 to increase their lead to 17-10. Washington & Lee responded with an 11-3 run to take a 21-20 lead at the 8:01 mark.
Virginia Wesleyan responded with a 10-2 run to take a 30-23 lead with 3:52 left in the first half. Over the next three minutes, each team scored four points to bring the score to 34-27 with 59 seconds left in the half. W&L ended the first half with a 4-2 run to cut the lead to 36-31 at the break.
Coming out of halftime, Virginia Wesleyan caught fire and went on a 10-5 run to increase the score to 46-36 at the 16:08 mark. The Marlins went on a 6-2 run to increase their lead to 52-38 at the 14:14 mark, but over the next two minutes, the Generals responded with a 10-3 run to cut the Marlins' lead to 55-48 with 9:50 left in the half.
VWU countered to the Generals' run with a monster 12-2 run that increased their lead to 67-50 with 5:13 mark in the game. Over the next two minutes, the Marlins outscored W&L 8-5 to extend their lead to 75-55 at the 2:48 mark. With the game out of reach, W&L started to put in their subs, but managed to finish the game on a 4-1 run to cut the lead to 76-59.
