COLLEGE BASKETBALL: Hot-shooting W&L stops E&H in ODAC

 Adam Hutchinson examined the postgame stat sheet with a look of amazement.

His Washington & Lee Generals had just connected on 13 of 17 field goals in the second half for a success rate of 76 percent.

“I’ve never seen that before,” Hutchinson said.

Powered by that torrid shooting performance, the ninth-seeded Generals stopped the No. 8 Emory & Henry Wasps, 67-50, in the opening round of the ODAC men’s basketball tournament.

A rowdy crowd of 725 showed up at Bob Johnson Court to see if the Wasps could continue their late-season surge.

The game plan for E&H was to slow versatile 6-foot-6 W&L junior forward J.D. Ey. With the Wasps defense packing the paint, the disciplined Generals answered with hot perimeter shooting to take a 19-14 lead.

The Wasps (12-14) rallied to tie the game at 19 with 7:43 left in the first half. W&L (13-13) then continued to torment the E&H defense with precise backcuts, alert interior passes and quality shots.

 “If you relax for a second, W&L gets you,” E&H coach Paul Russo said. “They played really well, but our defense fell asleep a couple times. Every time we got some things cooking for us on offense, W&L came back with an easy basket.”

Even Hutchinson was surprised by the production of his team, which shot 59 percent for the game.

“I guess things have a way of evening out because we’ve been shooting about 29 percent for like the last three games,” Hutchinson said.

Four players reached double figures for W&L while Ey distributed five assists. Five-foot-nine freshman Javon McDonald paced W&L with 18 points, including four 3-pointers in the first half.

 “You’ve got to make W&L take jump shots, and they made a ton of them tonight,” Russo said.

Armando Murrell continued his emergence for E&H by muscling his way to 19 points and 12 rebounds.

 “Emory hasn’t had many big guys in recent years, but they’ve got some guys with size now,” Hutchinson said. “So I wasn’t shocked they went inside tonight. Murrell is aggressive.”

The only antidote W&L had for the 6-5, 225-pound Murrell was the long arms of 6-8 sophomore Drew Kimberly.

“We were very concerned because Emory has had some good wins and you can see that they were on an upswing,” Hutchinson said. “I honestly wasn’t sure if we were tough enough to withstand that.”

Six-foot-one freshman guard Damian Edwards added 14 points for the Wasps, who converted just 2 of 16 three-point shots and missed 10 free throws.  

While Russo was displeased with those numbers, he was more frustrated by the lack of consistency of his defenders.

“We couldn’t throw it in the ocean tonight but that doesn’t mean that you have to take breaks and lose your energy on defense,” Russo said. “That can never happen, and it’s a lesson this team still has to learn.”

Despite the loss, Russo was pleased with the progress of his team which tripled its win total from last season.

 “Things turned for us,” Russo said. “I’m extremely disappointed right now and I know my guys are hurting. But in a few days they will start reflecting on what areas we need to improve on because we’re just a couple steps away from a 15-win season and playing in the conference semifinals in Salem.”

E&H returns all but two players next season – Kyle Sensabaugh and Mike Owens. Sensabaugh felt the Wasps were poised to take big step Tuesday.

“Washington & Lee is a good team but we definitely felt like we were prepared to steal this one,” Sensabaugh said. “You can’t fall asleep like we did because they will punish you.”

As for the future, Sensabaugh projects more advancement for the Wasps.

 “That’s a good team in our locker room and I definitely see good things,” Sensabaugh said. “The guys play hard and they’re going to come back with a great season next year. I loved playing with this team. It’s gonna be hard walking away.”

While the Generals converted in textbook fashion, E&H shot just 36 percent for the game. Malcolm Green who led the Wasps in scoring during the regular season, managed just nine points.

“Nothing would fall for any of us tonight,” Sensabaugh said. “But I think Malcolm will shock everybody next year, and he could be the best player in the ODAC.”

      agregory@bristolnews.com | Twitter: @Greg_BHCSports | (276) 645-2544.