Game Box Score

HAMPDEN-SYDNEY, VA (January 18, 2006)—Virginia Wesleyan College knocked off 20^th-ranked (D3hoops.com) Hampden-Sydney College, 68-53, Wednesday night in Old Dominion Athletic Conference basketball action.  With the win, the Marlins improved to 14-3 overall and 9-1 in the ODAC, while the Tigers fell to 12-3 overall and 6-3 in the conference. 

Brandon Adair and Tyler Fantin each scored 16 points, while Ton Ton Balenga added 11 as the Marlins avenged a 74-62 loss to the Tigers back on November 30.  Troy Kaase (Roanoke, VA/Cave Spring) added 13, while Drew Prehmus (Atlanta, GA/Wesleyan) chipped in 11 to pace the Tigers. 

The game featured a back-and-forth battle with eight ties throughout the first 17-plus minutes, while the Tigers held as much as a three-point lead, 11-8, on a Jyri Laakso (Oulu, Finland/Makelanrinne) layup with 12:58 to play.  A Matt Towell layup broke a 22-all tie and sent the Marlins on a 12-4 run over the final 2:52 of the half and held a 34-26 lead in the locker room. 

The Marlins opened the second half on a 7-1 run that culminated in a 12-point lead, 41-29, with a Tyler Fantin three pointer at the 15:28 mark.  The Tigers cut the lead to ten, 47-37, on Matt Guill’s (Emmaus, PA/Emmaus) running one-hander just over four minutes later, but the Marlins stretched the lead again, this time to 14 points (53-39) on Marques Fitch’s layup with 9:01 to play. 

The Tigers continued to rally, cutting the lead to eight points on two separate occasions, the last on Mike Edward’s (Richmond, VA/Benedictine) with 4:40 to play that made the score 58-50.  Ton Ton Balenga then added a pair of free throws and a layup, while Thomas Sumpter sank two freebies down the stretch to put a cap on the game for the Marlins.  

The Tigers shot 41.7 percent (20-for-48) from the floor, while their woes continued from beyond the arc as the team connected on just 2-of-10 (20%) en route to recording their fifth straight sub 30-percent effort from trifecta-land.  Meanwhile, the Tigers also made just 11-of-19 (57.9%) from the line. 

Virginia Wesleyan meanwhile, shot 44.2 percent (23-for-52) from the floor and just 29.4 percent (5-for-17) from three point range, while sinking 17-of-24 (70.8%) from the free throw line.  The Marlins out-rebounded the Tigers, 34-30. 

Hampden-Sydney returns to action Saturday as the Tigers open a three-game road stretch in Emory, VA, against Emory and Henry College at 2 pm.  The game will be broadcast live on FM 95.7 WFLO and on the internet at www.hsc.edu/athletics.