Maroons Move Past Jackets, Face BC in Semis
Inside-Outside Balance Key Victory
February 22, 2007
Box Score

SALEM, Va. --- Roanoke College avenged a pair of regular season losses to Randolph-Macon College, defeating the Yellow Jackets 79-58 in the fourth quarterfinal of the Old Dominion Athletic Conference (ODAC) Men’s Basketball Championship tournament.  The Maroons, with a 16-10 record, move on to face to Bridgewater College knocked out #2 seed Guilford College in earlier action.  RMC finishes its season at 14-12.

Randolph-Macon controlled much of the first half of play, moving out to a 10-point edge at 19-9 and then 24-14 with 6:51 to play in the half.  The Jackets went into the half up eight at 35-27.

Roanoke quickly erased the deficit, tying the score at 35-all just over two minutes in.  The Maroons used a strong inside-outside presence to push their lead out to nine at 53-44 before the Yellow Jackets made a run to pull within three at the 10-minute mark.  Junior guard Jeff Leiter made sure the Jackets didn’t get any closer as he nailed three straight from beyond the arc to give Roanoke an 11-point lead that carried through the end of the contest.

Leiter notched 11 points on the evening and was one of five Maroons in double figures.  Junior A.J. Dowell led all scorers with 15 points.  Fellow third year man Josh Laporte and sophomore Curtis Peery each recorded their fifth double-double of the season.  LaPorte registered 13 points and 12 boards while Peery 10 points and 11 rebounds.  Sophomore Zach Milton tallied 14 points.

"Tonight it was Jeff's [Leiter] turn," explained Roanoke head coach Page Moir.  "He showed the confidence of a guy that has worked hard all year and deserved something like that to happen for him.  I'm really proud of him."

Senior Phil Hawley led RMC with 13 points.  Sophomore Justin Short added 12 points and senior Stephen Sutherland chipped in 11 tallies.

Roanoke’s semifinal contest with Bridgewater is set for Saturday, February 24, at 3:00 p.m. in the Salem Civic Center.


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