SALEM, Va. – In the ODAC Men’s Semifinals round, No. 3 Roanoke College defeated No. 7 Lynchburg 96-92 in overtime. With the win, Roanoke earns a spot in the championship game on Sunday. It will be the Maroons first ODAC Championship appearance since 2018.
The Maroons dominated the first half, winning the rebound battle and scoring 17 points off of Lynchburg’s turnovers. That led to a 45-30 halftime advantage for the Maroons.
But in the second half, Lynchburg was much more aggressive. Piercen Young hit timely shots before fouling out with 12 points and 7 rebounds. Jake Hart added 15 points while Michael Gray scored a game-high 34 points. Tunstall High School grad Jamarcus Brown scored 11 points and grabbed 7 rebounds.
The Hornets’ efforts helped close the lead and they were able to eventually tie the game late and force overtime.
In overtime, Roanoke had big contributions from Joshua McClary (23 points, 6 rebounds), Marcus Morgan (16 points) and Patrick Clevenger (14 points). But no contribution was bigger than Jackson Bell’s three pointer with just seconds remaining in overtime. Bell, who put an exclamation point on Roanoke’s quarterfinals win over Ferrum with a big dunk, did it again to put the Maroons over the top.
Roanoke will play Guilford in the ODAC Championship on Sunday at 2 p.m. at the Salem Civic Center. The Quakers upset top-seeded Randolph-Macon 52-49.
On the women’s side of the ODAC tournament, Randolph-Macon topped Washington & Lee 65-58.