No. 16 Randolph-Macon Stymies DeSales in NCAA Sectional Semifinal
St. Mary’s City, Md. – No. 16 Randolph-Macon College used a balanced attack in advancing to Saturday night’s NCAA Division III Men’s Basketball Championship sectional final as the Yellow Jackets posted a 68-55 victory over DeSales University in the sectional semifinals hosted by St. Mary’s College of Maryland Friday.
Randolph-Macon (25-6) will now face No. 18 Franklin & Marshall College (26-4), a 92-87 winner over host St. Mary’s, in tomorrow’s “Elite 8” match-up at 7:00 pm at the Michael P. O’Brien Athletics & Recreation Center Arena. The winner from Saturday’s match-up will advance to next weekend’s “Final Four” in Salem, Va.
Junior guard Eric Pugh (Silver Spring, Md./James Blake) led a trio of Yellow Jackets in double digit scoring with 15 points as Pugh was 3-of-5 from downtown while junior forward Brandon Braxton (Cape Charles, Va./North Hampton) and sophomore guard Calvin Croskey (Manassas, Va./Osbourn Park) each finished with 12 points.
As a team, the Yellow Jackets rained three’s on DeSales with Randolph-Macon connecting on 9-of-22 (.409) for the game. Pugh and sophomore Adam Desgain (Richmond, Va./J.R. Tucker) combined for six long range shots while the R-MC stifled the Bulldogs’ perimeter, holding them to just two shots in each half.
Randolph-Macon outmanned the Bulldogs on the boards all night long, boasting a 41 to 27 advantage as junior Kevin Voelkel (Pleasantville, N.Y./Collegiate School) and Croskey joined forces for 17 rebounds.
The Yellow Jackets started the game extremely flat, missing their first nine field goal attempts before junior forward Danny Jones (Herndon, Va./Herndon) knocked down his lay-up at 14:23 to interrupt DeSales’ offensive flow. Down 16-12 with 10:25 remaining in the half, Randolph-Macon forged a 10-1 run to claim a lead that R-MC would never relinquish.
Only guards Brian Hunter (Allentown, Pa./Emmaus) and Darnell Braswell (Allentown, Pa./William Allen) reached double figures for DeSales. Hunter led the way with a game-high 27 points on 10-of-16 shooting while Braswell added 15 points.
The Yellow Jackets steadily continued to bolster their lead in the second half, leading by its biggest margin of 15 points on four different occasions. The closest that DeSales was able to get was when Hunter’s three-pointer at 17:08 pulled the Bulldogs within 37-32.
DeSales caps its 2009-10 season with a 24-6 overall record and as the two-time defending Freedom Conference champion.
