Sophomore guard D’Juan Tucker (Dumfries, Va./Forest Park) scored 12 second half points, highlighted by a timely three-pointer with 8:24 remaining to play to give Virginia Wesleyan a lead it did not surrender the rest of the way en route to a 77-68 non-conference victory at the Jane P. Batten Student Center.
Tucker finished with a career-high 14 points, including 12 in the final 14:15 of the second half, to help the Marlins (8-3) emerge with the win in a battle of preseason conference title favorites. VWC is the defending champion and title favorite in the Old Dominion Athletic Conference and Methodist is the two-time defending champion and title favorite in the USA South Athletic Conference.
Methodist (2-8), victim of a murderous schedule to date, including several National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA) Division I ranked teams, a National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I team and two Division III ranked squads, never let Virginia Wesleyan slip too far away. The Marlins led 37-27 in the first 1:10 of the second half when the Monarchs’ Robert Lee hit a pair of free throws to ignite a Methodist rally.
Eugene Grant, Seth Thomas and Dragan Radmanovic followed Lee’s lead, contributing to a torrid 66% shooting effort that produced a 15-4 run and a 42-41 Methodist advantage with 14:27 on the clock. That’s when Tucker sparked for Virginia Wesleyan, nailing his first of three second half triples, to return the lead to the Marlins.
“D’Juan gave us a much-needed spark off the bench,” said VWC head coach David Macedo. “He played well, hitting shots that helped to keep us in it. We were very rusty offensively and did not play well defensively, but we made enough plays down the stretch to win.”
Tucker provided some of those big plays, as did sophomore Tyler Fantin (Virginia Beach, Va./Floyd E. Kellam) inside. Fantin hit 6-of-11 shots overall en route to leading the Marlins with 16 points. It was the fifth consecutive double-digit scoring effort for Fantin, who has hit 59% of his shots in those games en route to averaging 13.6 points per outing.
“Tyler has been one of our most consistent players in the last five games,” said Macedo. “He’s really coming into his own, which is good to see at this point of the season.”
Fantin hit a jumper with 9:00 to play to help knock Methodist out of its last lead of the game, reducing a brief Monarch lead to 59-58. Junior Brandon Adair (Virginia Beach, Va./Princess Anne) snared a rebound following Monarch missed shot on the ensuing play and tot the ball to Tucker, who hit the triple that gave VWC the lead for good at 61-59 with 8:24 on the clock. It sparked a 14-4 run for the Marlins, who opened up a 72-63 advantage with 47 seconds to play.
There were 11 lead changes and 10 ties in the game, including seven ties in the first half. Senior Marques Fitch (Virginia Beach, Va./Princess Anne) hit two free throws to break the final tie in the first half for VWC, which outscored Methodist 11-5 in the final 4:26 to post a 33-27 lead at halftime.
Lee led all scoring, tallying 24 points for the Monarchs on an 8-of-11 shooting effort that included a 6-of-6 showing from three-point range. Grant tallied 17 points, hitting 8-of-16 shots, and Thomas tallied 11 points. Methodist shot 55% for the game, including a fiery 69% from three-point range (9x13).
Virginia Wesleyan connected on 51% of its shots in the second half en route to a 48% effort for the contest. The Marlins hit seven triples and outscored the Monarchs 14-5 from the free throw lines. VWC’s bench players came up big in the win, scoring 30 points for the Marlins. Methodist’s bench players tallied five points.
Virginia Wesleyan returns to competition on Wednesday, January 4, returning to Old Dominion Athletic Conference action. The Marlins play at 7 p.m. at Lynchburg College.
–VWC--