With the game knotted at 68 and 15 seconds remaining, the Yellow Jackets had the ball coming out of a timeout. Randolph-Macon’s Kurt Bergmann drove to the basket with 11 seconds to play, but his shot was stolen by Monroe who then hit Brandon Randall (Williamsburg, VA/Bruton) on the fast-break who found Brian Gunn for a layup with eight seconds to play.
As Randolph-Macon attempted to in-bounds the ball, Justin Wansley’s pass was intercepted by Brandon Randall, who was then fouled. He stepped to the line and hit one-of-two to seal the contest for the Tigers. The second half was much tighter than the first as Hampden-Sydney led by seven at the break (40-33) after the Tigers opened the game on an 18-5 run that featured three’s by Gunn, Monroe and Randall and a technical foul on Macon coach Mike Rhoades.
The Tigers opened a 12-point lead (47-35) in the second half, but Macon came back, eventually taking its first lead of the game (61-60) with 6:27 to play. The Yellow Jackets pushed their lead to four, 64-60, on a Ryan Stein layup with 5:37 remaining, but the Tigers came back to tie the game on a dunk by David Willson (Memphis, TN/MUS) and a three-pointer by Randall.
Randall led all players with 21 points on 7-of-12 shooting from the floor and 4-7 from beyond the arc, while Tiger senior forward Jason Holman (Amelia, VA/Amelia) recorded a double-double with 13 points and a career-high 12 rebounds. Willson finished with 11, while Jeff Monroe added ten for the Tigers, who overcame a cold shooting second half in which they shot just 26 percent (10-38).
Randolph-Macon freshman Patrick Gill scored 17 points to lead the Yellow Jackets, while sophomore forward Justin Wansley finished with 14 points and 11 rebounds. Ryan Stein added 11 for R-MC, while Jim Silcox had ten.
The Tigers shot 35 percent (26-74) from the floor, 43 percent (9-21) from beyond the arc and 53 percent (10-19) from the free throw line, while forcing 21 Randolph-Macon turnovers and committing just nine of their own, while also and out-rebounding the Yellow Jackets, 39-38. Randolph-Macon finished the game shooting 54 percent (27-50) from the floor, 42 percent (5-12) from three-point range and 56 percent (9-16) at the line.
Hampden-Sydney returns to action with the final game of the 2003-2004 regular season Tuesday, February 17, as the team travels to Norfolk, VA, to take on Virginia Wesleyan College at 7 pm.