Men’s college basketball Hampden-Sydney 69 — Washington and Lee 63

Published 1:54 pm Tuesday, January 19, 2016

THE BASICS: Final Score: Hampden-Sydney 69, Washington and Lee 63. Records: H-SC 12-3, 4-2 ODAC; Washington and Lee 8-6, 2-4 ODAC. Location: Hampden-Sydney.

HOW IT HAPPENED: Each team started out cold from the field as the game was knotted at 8-8 at 11:45, but the Generals used a 13-4 run over the next three minutes to go ahead 21-12 at the 8:28 mark. The Tigers cut the deficit down to four, 26-22, at 4:42, but eight of the next nine points came from W&L as they went up by 10, 34-23. Down 13 with the ball at nine seconds, Mike Murray (Norfolk/Norfolk Christian) dribble drove the baseline and found Jake Duncan (Williamsburg/Williamsburg Christian) on the right wing for a three pointer at the buzzer. Duncan opened up the second half on fire as he tallied eight straight points for H-SC to get back within seven, 44-37, at 17:53.

A Mitch Owens (Williamsburg/Walsingham) jumper followed by two free throws from JaVonte Reddick (Richmond/L.C. Bird) capped a 12-2 run that put the Tigers down only 44-41 at 14:39. After an Andy Kleinlein layup moved the Generals to 48-44, Gray Cheers (Supply, N.C./West Brunswick) drained two three pointers around an Andrew Franz layup, and then a Logan Samuels (Bowie, Md./Potomac) layup at 8:59 gave the Tigers a 52-50 lead.

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Kleinlein answered with four consecutive free throws to provide the visitors a 54-52 lead, but a 10-2 run keyed by Duncan and Murray put the Tigers out in front 64-56 with 4:42 remaining. Following two missed Tiger free throws on H-SC’s following possession, Evans made an acrobatic steal while falling out of bounds and Guilherme Guimaraes (Ribeirão Preto, Brazil/Miller School) made one free throws to make it a 65-61 game. Kearns got fouled on a three pointer and made two of three foul shots with 30 seconds to play, and Murray was immediately fouled after catching the inbounds pass but he calmly stepped up to the free throw line to make both shots. Duncan secured a rebound then was fouled, and he sank both freebies to provide the final score.

TIGER TOP PERFORMERS: Duncan scored a career-high 28 points with five rebounds. He made 9-of-14 field goal attempts and converted on six of his three point tries. It was his 12th game of the season with at least four three point makes. Murray scored 12 points along with six assists and three steals. He now ranks fourth in school history for career assists with 383. Owens tallied 11 points and three steals off the bench.

UP NEXT: H-SC travels to Randolph College on Wednesday for a 7 p.m. tipoff.