Hampden-Sydney trailed by ten, 12-2, early in the first half before getting a lift from freshman guard Drew Prehmus (Atlanta, GA/Wesleyan School) who scored 18 of his team-high 20 points in igniting the Tigers on a 40-22 run that closed out the first stanza with a 42-34 Tiger advantage. Hampden-Sydney started the second half strong, going ahead by 14, 48-34, thanks to consecutive baskets by junior guard Matt Guill (Emmaus, PA/Emmaus) and a layup by freshman forward Troy Kaase (Roanoke, VA/Cave Spring).
However, Eastern Mennonite rallied with a 16-4 run, sparked by ten points from Sager who tied the game at 51 with 14:10 to play. The Tigers came back to re-take the lead on a jumper by Brian Gunn (Danville, VA/GW Danville), but a three-pointer by EMU’s Earl Dyer gave the lead back to the Royals, 54-53. The lead swapped back-and-forth between the two teams over the next six minutes with Hampden-Sydney holding as much as a four-point cushion, 64-60, with 8:44 to play only to lose the advantage to EMU which took the lead for good at 69-67 on a Brad Parkes jumper with 5:59 to play.
A Parkes jumper with 2:54 remaining gave the Royals a six-point lead, 75-69, which the Tigers whittled down to one, 75-74, on a pair of free throws by Davis Bowne (Hickory, NC/St. Stephen’s) at the 1:50 mark, but the Royals converted at the line down the stretch as Corey Bailey, Parkes and Sager connected on six straight in the final 90 seconds of play to seal the game.
Prehmus led the Tigers in scoring for the second straight game as the sharp-shooting freshman connected on 8-of-11 from the floor and 4-of-6 from beyond the arc en route to scoring 20 points. Meanwhile, senior guard Brian Gunn scored 12 of his 14 points in the second-half, while sophomore center Davis Bowne scored a career-high 12 points to go with nine rebounds.
Sager finished the game with 32 points to lead the Royals as he hit on 11-of-18 from the floor, while Parkes scored 29 points thanks to a 10-for-15 effort from the floor and 9-for-10 mark at the free throw lines as the Royals canned 24-of-32 (75%) from the stripe, compared to a 16-for-23 (70%) effort by the Tigers.
Hampden-Sydney returns to action Wednesday, January 12, as the Tigers travel to Ashland, VA, to take on ODAC-rival Randolph-Macon College at 7 pm. The game will be broadcast live on FM 95.7 WFLO and on the internet at www.hsc.edu/athletics.