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| Alex Foster had a big day
offensively, putting up 35 points and 10 rebounds in Emory's win
vs. Virginia Wesleyan. Emory athletics file photo |
No. 7 Emory had a big offensive day in rolling over No. 8 Virginia Wesleyan and No. 4 Richard Stockton survived the final seconds vs. Lynchburg on a neutral floor as Division III basketball came back from the holidays on Saturday with a mixture of conference play and New Year's tournaments.
Alex Foster had 35 points on 11-for-21 shooting and Will Trawick added 19 as the Eagles defeated the Marlins 77-64. Emory (10-1) took a double-digit on its second possesion of the second half and never relinquished it, leading by as many as 23 points en route to the win. The Marlins (9-2) got 37 from Khory Moore.
Lynchburg had a chance to tie the game in the final seconds, facing No. 4 Richard Stockton at Franklin and Marshall's tournament. Zack Burnett was fouled shooting a 3-pointer that would have tied the game at the buzzer and was sent to the line to shoot three free throws, down 62-59. Burnett made the first with no time on the clock, but he missed the second and Richard Stockton escaped. Josh Blamon led the Ospreys with a game-high 25 points, going 14-for-15 from the foul line.
Franklin and Marshall coach Glenn Robinson passed Dean Smith on the college basketball all-time win list, picking up his 880th career win as the No. 25 Diplomats defeated Immaculata 77-73 in their New Year's tournament opener. Brandon Federici scored a game-high 30 points. The Diplomats will take on No. 4 Richard Stockton on Sunday.
Alex Eidson had a huge day from beyond the arc, shooting 6-for-9 from 3-point range en route to 22 points as Hope rolled over No. 10 Ohio Wesleyan 87-61. The Flying Dutchmen outrebounded the Battling Bishops 45-26.
No. 20 North Central got 25 points from Jack Burchett and Jayme Moten added 16 as the Cardinals (11-1) defeated No. 9 Illinois Wesleyan 78-72 in the teams' CCIW opener. Down 11 with five minutes to go, IWU (8-4) rallied to but the lead to two points on a Jordan Nelson 3-pointer with a minute left to play. But Burchett made two free throws and Moten was 4-for-4 from the line in the final minute to seal the win.
Third-ranked UW-Whitewater played just seven players, and one of them for just six minutes, as the Warhawks survived 67-63 at UW-River Falls. Quardell Young scored a game-high 22 points in playing all 40 minutes.
No. 16 Scranton survived its fourth game in seven days, beating an old rival by downing Wilkes 75-73 at King's. Scranton had beaten King's 86-83 in overtime on Friday night. Brendan Boken went 9-for-11 from the field en route to 21 points. Scranton led by four in the closing seconds before a Wilkes putback cut the final margin to two.
Elmhurst improved to 11-1 on the season, defeating Wheaton (Ill.) 83-75 in its CCIW opener. After the Thunder led by nine early, the Bluejays rallied to take the lead at the half and held on after Wheaton (7-5) cut the lead to three in the second half.
Staten Island shot just 9-for-23 from the free throw line and was outrebounded 59-40 but still had enough to defeat Brooklyn 78-74, sending the Bulldogs to their second defeat against 10 wins. Brooklyn had a chance to tie the game with 24 seconds left but missed a 3-pointer and Staten Island (6-4) made three of six free throws to hang on.
Bates bounced back after back-to-back losses last week, winning 72-57 at Southern Vermont. Graham Safford came off the bench to score 16 points, while Marcus Delpeche added 15 and Billy Selmon 14 to lift the Bobcats to 8-2.
Rosemont rallied from a 12-point deficit in the second half to defeat Cabrini 85-78, the program's first-ever win vs. the Cavaliers. Nadir Stukes scored 19 to lead the Ravens, who improved to 4-7. Forty minutes wasn't enough for some, as DeSales needed two overtimes to beat Elizabethtown, while Swarthmore did the same at Roanoke and Wabash defeated Hiram in double overtime as well. Wabash got 27 from Daniel Purvlicis on 12-for-13 shoting from the floor.
Delaware Valley rolled out to a 50-27 halftime lead and survived the closing seconds to defeat Ramapo 81-80 and make Casey Stitzel the winningest coach in Aggie men's basketball history. Stitzel's win came with his team surviving two separate possessions in the closing seconds. It was just Ramapo's second loss of the season.