The Marlins returned to the Donald M. Forsyth Court on Saturday and outscored Emory & Henry College’s Wasps 10-2 to open up a 15-point lead that helped ignite Virginia Wesleyan to a 110-91 Old Dominion Athletic Conference victory at the Jane P. Batten Student Center.
Virginia Wesleyan (10-3, 5-1) won for the eighth consecutive outing, helped by a blistering 67.7 shooting effort from the field, the third best showing (44x65) in program history and the best since a 67.8 afternoon against St. Andrews College in 1981.
Standout junior Brandon Adair (Virginia Beach, Va./Princess Anne) led the torrid pace, hitting 10-of-11 shots en route to a game-high 23 points. His 90.9 percent shooting is the second best in VWC history, tying the same numbers posted by All-American Jason Nickerson against Randolph-Macon College in 1999.
Overall, the Marlins drilled home 44 field goal, the sixth highest total in program history, helped by impressive numbers put up by rookie Terrell Dixon (Virginia Beach, Va./Salem), who hit 7-of-9, senior Marques Fitch (Virginia Beach, Va./Floyd E. Kellam), who hit 6-of-9, and rookie Tory Green (Virginia Beach, Va./Salem), who hit 5-of-6. Nine of the 11 Marlins who scored in the game shot 50 percent or better.
The Marlins connected on 68.8 percent of their shots in the first half, but could not shake a, quick opportunistic Wasps squad that took advantage of a harassing defense that forced Virginia Wesleyan into an uncharacteristic 17 turnovers. Emory & Henry, led by Antonio Leary, Korey Townsend, Anthony Hairston and Gary Kerns, pushed out to a four-point lead late in the half, before VWC answered.
A three-pointer from Green tied the game at 44 and two free throws a minute later from sophomore TonTon Balenga (Newport News, Va./Warwick) gave Virginia Wesleyan the lead for good. The Marlins outscored the Wasps 6-0 in the final two minutes of the half to open up a 53-46 lead at the break and extended that lead to 63-48 with the opening run in the second half, led by Adair, Fitch, Balenga and sophomore Tyler Fantin (Virginia Beach, Va./Floyd E. Kellam).
Virginia Wesleyan continually found ways to score inside and sparked a 13-5 run in a span of five minutes to post an 80-60 lead on a jumper from junior Rodney Young (Chesapeake, Va./Norfolk Norview) with 9:02 remaining to be played. What seemed to be a safe lead was contested quickly however, as Emory & Henry retaliated.
Cain Landreth knocked down a triple to ignite an impressive 18-3 Wasp run in a hectic three minutes. Eight Wasps scored anywhere from one to three points in the run that cut the Virginia Wesleyan lead to 83-78 with 6:15 still remaining to be played.
Virginia Wesleyan did not rattle however, as Fantin and Dixon combined to score six consecutive points that pushed the Marlins back out to an 11-point advantage. Emory & Henry pulled within an 89-81 score on three free throws from Landreth, but never got closer as Virginia Wesleyan produced a closing run that capped the game.
The Marlins outscored the Wasps 13-0 in the next three minutes, led by Dixon with six points and Balenga with four, to open up a 102-81 lead with 2:06 on the clock. A three-point play by Townsend cut it to an 18-point deficit for the Wasps, but VWC did not let up, opening up the largest lead of the game at 108-85 with 54 seconds to play.
Virginia Wesleyan helped maintain the lead in the second half with strong board play and finished the game with 57 rebounds, the third highest total in program history and the highest since the Marlins snared 59 against Shenandoah University in 1982. Adair led the Marlins with 12 boards, followed by Fantin with nine and Fitch and Balenga with eight each. Emory & Henry recorded 28 rebounds, led by Leary with four.
Townsend and Landreth emerged with 18 points each to lead the Wasps’ scoring, which included an 8-of-38 showing from three-point range. Virginia Wesleyan finished with only five triple attempts and hit one. The Marlins did hit 21-of-31 free throws, led by Balenga (8x10), while Emory & Henry hit 13-of-19.
Balenga finished with 18 points and was one of five Marlins in double-figure scoring. Dixon finished with a career-high 17 points, Fitch with 13 and Green with 11. VWC also took advantage of the passing of junior Thomas Sumpter (Hampton, Va./Bethel), who dished out a season-high eight assists.