Marlins to Face Williams College in Round of 16
VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. --- Virginia Wesleyan
College's search for an igniting moment, a play that could infuse
fire into the Fish, came to fruition for the overflow crowd at the
Jane P. Batten Student Center on Saturday when junior Ali
Brown rambled down the lane and smashed through a monster dunk
with 8:07 on the clock.
Rookie D.J. Woodmore delivered the pass through the Franklin
& Marshall College defense to the 6-foot-8 Brown, whose
stuff cut the Diplomats' lead to 60-55 and sparked a loud Marlin
crowd for the remainder of the NCAA second round game.
More importantly, it was part of an intense 21-5 game-finishing
scoring blitz by the Marlins, who turned a 60-53 deficit into a
72-65 lead with 56 seconds remaining in the game. Georgio
Milligan, the reigning Centennial Conference Player of the Year,
attempted to carry the Diplomats on his shoulders down the stretch,
but the shots would not fall.
When the final horn sounded, Virginia Wesleyan owned a hard-fought
79-71 victory and a berth in the NCAA's round of final 16 teams in
the Division III championship tournament. It marks the third
time in six years that Virginia Wesleyan has advanced to the
round of 16. The Marlins will take on the Ephs (pronounced "eefs")
of Williams College (27-2) on Friday, March 11, in a location yet
to be determined.
For now however, the Marlins are enjoying the comeback win
over F&M (23-6), which took the lead on a James McNally jumper
to halt a see-saw battle in the first half. The Diplomats
took advantage of a cold-shooting VWC team and pushed out to a
40-28 lead with 1:10 in the frame.
Virginia Wesleyan came through with the final two scores of the
half; a jumper by Rakeem Davis, followed by a triple
from Chris Astorga to cut the halftime deficit to 40-33.
Scoring by Brandon Beckford and Mike Baker pushed F&M into 11
point lead, but only temporarily. Woodmore put down a dunk
(pictured) and Chris Teasley hit a three as part of a 10-3 VWC
scoring spurt to pull to within 49-47 with 14:33 remaining.
But the Diplomats came back strong to quiet the crowd with a 11-4
run, led by McNally with six points. A Beckford free throw
gave F&M a 60-51 lead with 9:54 on the clock.
Momentum began to shift for the final time when junior Ed
Roberts scored on a layup just seconds later. A steal by
sophomore Tre' Ford produced the game-turning dunk by
Brown.
In the next eight minutes, Donald Vaughn, Teasley,
Woodmore, Davis and Ford all scored for the Marlins, who whittled
away the deficit and took a 66-65 lead on a Vaughn jumper. A
pair of Davis free throws and a timely Ford jumper helped the
Marlins stretch their lead to 72-65 with 56 seconds remaining.
While VWC found its range in the final minutes, F&M went
cold. The Diplomats attempted nine shots in the final three
minutes, including four three-pointers, but hit only two shots.
F&M was icy the entire contest from beyond the arc, hitting
just 1-of-7 from downtown. VWC connected on 8-of-18 from
distance, including a trio by Astorga.
Virginia Wesleyan attempted 38 free throws overall and hit
24. Davis connected on 8-of-10 attempts and Woodmore nailed
7-of-7. Milligan connected on 9-of-15 free throws for
F&M, which hit 12-of-24 in total.
Virginia Wesleyan finished with a 37-32 edge in rebounding, but
Milligan led all boarders with 10. He also led all scoring
with 30 points, hitting 10-of-20 field goal attempts. Baker
and McNally tallied 18 points each for the Diplomats.
Ford and Woodmore led Virginia Wesleyan with 16 points each.
Teasley added 14 points and Davis tallied 12.
This release is courtesy of the Virginia Wesleyan
College sports information department.