Warren’s 5-for-7 showing from behind the arc for 15 points was part of a 9-of-22 long-distance effort by the undefeated Marlins (11-0, 5-0), who entered the game ranked No. 3 nationally in three-point field goal accuracy. Rookie Ton Ton Balenga was 3-of-7 from three-point range en route to scoring 14 points.
Warren and Balenga were two of four players in double-figure scoring for the Marlins, who were led by sophomore Brandon Adair’s 19 points. Adair hit 9-of-11 field goal attempts. Junior Thomas Sumpter added 14 points for VWC and dished out five assists.
Virginia Wesleyan finished with 20 assists, led by junior Marques Fitch with a career-high nine. He also scored eight points.
Lynchburg, led by Ryan Pehanick’s 16 points and 14 from Aaron Smith, led 4-0 to start the game, before VWC answered with a 20-4 run to open up a 20-8 spread. Balenga nailed a pair of triples in the run.
The Hornets rallied to cut the spread to 23-15, before the Marlins posted a 20-6 run to close the half with a 44-21 halftime lead.
A dunk by Adair opened scoring in the second half as VWC posted its largest lead of the game at 46-21. VWC enjoyed a 60-40 lead with 9:00 on the clock when the Hornets ignited for a 10-2 run behind Pehanick and Smith to pull with a 62-50 score with 6:04 remaining to be played.
Virginia Wesleyan simply regrouped at that point and outscored the Hornets 16-6 to post a 78-56 advantage with 2:19 to play. Sumpter scored on three straight layups in the final 2:39 to help the Marlins maintain their spread.
Lynchburg drops to 5-6 overall with the loss and to 3-2 in the ODAC.