Notables

SALEM, Va. – Hampden-Sydney fired a warning shot across the bow of every team hoping for a Pool C bid as the third-seeded Tigers knocked off top seed Randolph-Macon 55-48 in the Old Dominion Athletic Conference championship game Feb. 18 to win the conference title and an automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament.

Randolph-Macon, which had won the previous two meetings between the archrivals, is considered a near-lock for a Pool C bid at 23-5, 23-4 against Division III teams. Hampden-Sydney would have joined other teams on the bubble if they had lost.

The Tigers (22-5) got 13 points off the bench from Jeff Monroe and 11 from Brandon Randall as they won their fifth ODAC title since 1997.

"For the last couple weeks we've tried to emphasize as a team the little things – holding onto the ball, playing good defense; the things that make you successful in the game of basketball," head coach Tony Shaver said. I thought this weekend we did those things better."

The Yellow Jackets struggled from the field all game, shooting just 19.2% in the first stanza. They finished the game shooting 30.5% from the field and just 17.9% (5-for-28) from 3-point range.

"They are one of the best I've seen at running set plays. We wanted to disrupt them and take them out of the game and I feel that we did that tonight. I thought the zone was something that would disrupt them and we ended up playing it more than I anticipated," Shaver said.

Randolph-Macon reached the final by beating fourth-seeded Roanoke 71-63 in the ODAC semifinals, while Hampden-Sydney rallied to beat No. 7 seed Emory & Henry 105-95.

Jared Mills paced the Yellow Jackets with 18 points including a 6-for-11 performance from the field, including his 1000th career point. He also pulled down a game-high nine boards. Randolph-Macon, which struggled from the line two weeks ago in a loss at Virginia Wesleyan, shot 23-for-26 (88.5%) to keep the Maroons at bay. Check out conference tournament pairings for men and women as we continue the countdown to Selection Sunday.