The Marlins improve to 21-3 overall and 16-1 in ODAC play while the Yellow Jackets fall to 13-10 on the season and 8-8 in the league.
VWC’s D’Juan Tucker notched 18 points on the strength of four three-pointers, while Ton Ton Balenga scored 14 points in the win. Adair and Tyler Fantin each pulled down a game-high 10 boards in the win. VWC connected on 27-of-57 (48.1) shots from the floor in the victory.
The Yellow Jackets were paced by Jeremy Dixon who had 20 points on 10-of-17 shooting, while also grabbing a team-best eight rebounds. Senior Phil Hawley became the 36th Yellow Jacket in history to score 1,000 points for his career with a bucket at the 4:13 mark of the first-half. Hawley now has 1,013 total points for his career. David Carlson also scored 18 points for R-MC.
VWC jumped out to an early lead at 8-0 when Adair put back a Norman Hassel shot with 16:31 left in the opening frame. The Marlins extended their lead to 22-5 on a three-pointer by Tucker with 12:16 to go in the half.
The VWC advantage grew to as many as 22 in the first-half before the Marlins took a 36-21lead into the locker room at the intermission.
The Yellow Jackets rallied in the second-half and managed to cut the lead to 63-57 when Hawley converted a lay up with 3:28 remaining.
Adair responded on VWC’s next possession with at three-point play that pushed the Marlin lead to 66-57.
With VWC up 72-65, Dixon made a lay up to cut the lead to five with 32 seconds remaining, but the Marlins made 5-of-6 free-throws down the stretch to seal the win.
Randolph-Macon will return to action on Wednesday night when it will take on Eastern Mennonite University at 7:00 p.m. Wednesday’s game with the Royals will mark the final home game for the Yellow Jackets four seniors, Hawley, Adam Krovic Loren Sisson and Stephen Sutherland. Virginia Wesleyan will return to action next Saturday when it hosts Lynchburg College at 3:00 p.m.