Adair nailed 10-of-14 field goal attempts and Doino hit on 8-of 11, all part of an impressive afternoon of shooting for the Marlins at the Jane P. Batten Student Center. The Marlins opened up the game in the second half, connecting on a sizzling 68 percent of their field goal attempts, including 75 percent from three-point range. VWC finished the game shooting 56 percent from the field and 53 percent from behind-the-arc.
It was a satisfying victory for Virginia Wesleyan, which avenged a 67-65 road loss to the Wasps earlier in the season. The win improved VWC’s overall record to 15-5 and to 8-5 in the ODAC, while Emory & Henry dropped to 10-9 overall and to 5-7 in the conference.
Virginia Wesleyan outscored Emory & Henry 86-53, but the Wasps used the free throw stripes to keep matters from getting totally out of hand. The No. 1 free throw shooting team in the ODAC protected its status by canning 26-of-30 attempts, led by Korey Townsend’s 8-of-9 showing.
It still was not enough to help the Wasps spark any kind of run on the Marlins, who complemented their shooting effort with a dominating board display. VWC out-rebounded Emory & Henry 47-24, led by Doino with six rebounds.
Virginia Wesleyan led 38-31 at halftime and swelled that lead to 47-34 in the first three minutes of the second half. Doino hit a timely three-pointer to create the 13-point bulge, prompting an Emory & Henry timeout with 16:50 on the clock. The break did little to revert momentum however, as Virginia Wesleyan returned to the court to break the game open with a 17-8 run in the next eight minutes. Five different Marlins scored in the run, led by junior P.J. Foster with five points, as VWC took a 64-42 lead with 12:46 on the clock.
Scoring by Ben Fisher, Paul Redgate, and Brandon Stanley helped the Wasps pull within 17 points in the next few minutes, but no closer. A 12-4 scoring spurt pushed the Marlins into a 78-53 advantage with 7:31 remaining to be played and it was all VWC the rest of the way.
Emory & Henry senior Justin Call, ranked No. 7 nationally in scoring, tallied 15 points in the first half, but managed only four more points the rest of the way. He led the Wasps’s scoring overall. Townsend finished with 14 points.
Virginia Wesleyan used 14 players in the game and 13 scored. Sophomore Marques Fitch tallied 12 points for the Marlins and junior Peter Warren contributed with 11.