With a packed and raucous house chanting, “I believe that we will win!” and volleying “Black” and “Gold” back and forth across the gymnasium, men’s basketball had a chance against Randolph Macon Saturday before coming up short in the final seconds 61-59.
It was a slow start for Ferrum, as it took almost 10 minutes for the Panthers to break into double digits. The score was 16-9 when Alfredo Abel-Rivera, sophomore, dropped in two on a lay-up to make it 16-11, Yellow Jackets.
The Panthers managed another 14 points before the period ended, but Randolph Macon was ahead by 10, 35-25. The half saw Ferrum commit nine turnovers and go 2-6 from the line.
When the Panthers came out for the second period, they slowly chipped away at the Yellow Jacket lead, getting to within six at the 18:24 mark on a Calvin Washington, senior, free throw.
By the 16:02 mark, Ferrum cut the lead to 41-39 on a three pointer from Sterling Charles and then knotted the game at 41 on a Bryant Wall jumper with 14:48 left in the contest.
Randolph Macon then went up by two–and then four–before the Panthers tied the game again at 45 with 13:07 left in regulation.
Ferrum got its first lead of the game at the 12:13 mark on an Abel-Rivera free throw to make it 46-45 and then went up 51-47 with 10:43 left on the clock off of a Tahli Oden, senior, three pointer.
The Yellow Jackets tied it up at 51 with 8:27 left and then went ahead 54-51 at the 6:57 mark. Randolph Macon would not trail again.
The Yellow Jackets stretched the lead to seven when they went up 58-51 with 4:26 remaining in the matchup, but the Panthers began clawing their way back, getting to within one point on a Wall jumper with 2:23 left to go.
Randolph Macon answered back with a jumper at the 1:50 mark to go up three. A Yellow Jacket free throw put the team up four points, but Wall hit a layup with :35 ticks left to bring Ferrum to within two at 59-61.
Randolph Macon missed an attempt with nine seconds on the clock, and Washington snatched the rebound for the Panthers.
Ferrum had seven seconds to bring the ball up the court, but a three-point attempt by Wall hit the front of the rim as time expired.
Post game, Head Coach Patrick Corrigan said he was proud of the team’s togetherness and competitiveness.
“I thought our guys really laid it on the line–especially in the second half,” he said. “I thought that second half we really played the way we are capable of playing. We really played well enough to win, but there a few things execution-wise that we didn’t do, and that made the difference.”
Wall led the team in scoring with 15 points, followed by Oden with 11. Charles added nine, Abel-Rivera and Jikari Johnson, junior, each added seven, Washington chipped in five, and Zavier Measmer, junior, also added five.
The loss puts the Panthers at 13-5 overall and 4-5 in the ODAC.
The men will be back in action this evening when they travel to Greensboro to face Guilford in a Conference matchup.
