SALEM, Va. --- No. 1 Randolph-Macon controlled the final minutes of the first half in Saturday's ODAC semifinal game and made the stretch stick as they ended Eastern Mennonite's season, 67-57.  

EMU came out ready to challenge the nation's top-ranked team, scoring the first six points.  RaShawn Latimer later hit a three pointer to cap a 10-0 run, blowing open a 16-5 lead just nine minutes into play.

Randolph-Macon settled down, but the lead was still in double figures at 20-10 after an offensive putback from David Falk.   Back-to-back three pointers sliced the edge down to four, however, and triggered a 21-4 run for the Yellow Jackets, flipping their lead to 31-24.

Each team hit a three pointer before the break leaving R-MC on top 34-27 at halftime.

The Yellow Jackets kept their slight edge for much of the second half.  Eastern Mennonite got within 54-51 at the 5:55 mark when Ryan Yates converted a layup after a steal from Falk.  Moments later the men had a chance to start a run with another steal, but Falk's full court pass sailed out of bounds to hand it back to R-MC.

A Marcel Crump layup got the men back with four at 57-53 with 5:05 left, and two Falk free throws did the same thing at 59-55 with 3:25 to go.  But after an EMU timeout, the Yellow Jackets answered with a full court inbounds pass for a breakaway dunk, pushing the lead back to six.

The Royals missed a pair of free throws on their next possession, while Randolph-Macon made their two charity tosses to push it to 63-55.  Crump hit a floating jumper, but the Yellow Jackets kept their edge at the free throw line.  EMU was forced to push over the final minute but missed all five of their shots as R-MC won by their largest margin of the day at 67-57.

The Royals shot a fraction better from the floor, 42% to 41%, and even with similar percentages from long range the Yellow Jackets made eight three pointers compared to five for EMU.  But the men committed four more turnovers and struggled from the free throw line.  Eastern Mennonite was 6-14 from the stripe compared to 13-17 for Randolph-Macon.

Falk finished with 13 points and 10 rebounds, including making 3-of-4 from the free throw line.  Yates added 13 points with seven boards and three steals.  Crump charted 12 points while Jerome Jones canned a trio of threes for nine.  James Williams had the game high with seven assists.

Joe Hassell had 13 points and six rebounds to lead the Yellow Jackets, they extended their winning streak to 22 games and move into the ODAC Championship game on Sunday.  Marcus Badger added 13 with seven assists.  Chris Hamilton scored 11.

--- This release is courtesy of the Eastern Mennonite sports information department. ---