Dec. 31, 2010

Box Score

ASHLAND, VA - Host and 11th-ranked Randolph-Macon had four players score in double digits en route to a 76-42 win over Johns Hopkins Friday evening in the final game of the RMC Coaches Classic. The Blue Jays close out the 2010 portion of their schedule with a 2-7 record, while the Yellow Jackets win their sixth straight to improve to 10-2 on the season. Sophomore Mike Rhoads earned all-tournament team honors after punching up 10 points.

The Yellow Jackets held the Blue Jays without a field goal in the game's opening eight minutes as they pushed out to a 16-2 lead. The Blue Jays only points during that stretch came via Rhoads at the charity stripe. Senior Mike Henrici drained Hopkins first field goal of the game at 11:43 to make it a 16-4 game. That would be as close as Hopkins would get for the remainder of the half.

Sophomore Adam Spengler and Rhoads sandwiched buckets around a Brown lay-up and RMC led 26-12 with just under seven minutes to play. The Yellow Jackets' Lamar Giggetts hit the back-end of a pair of free throws to kick start a half-ending 9-4 run. Freshman Kyle Mobbs hit both buckets for the Blue Jays in the final three minutes of the half, including a put-back with seven seconds on the clock. Randolph-Macon took a 35-16 lead into the lockerroom.

Coming out of the break, RMC wasted little time pushing its lead over 20 points as Eric Pugh and Brown connected for an alley-oop just 10 seconds in. The Yellow Jackets led by as many as 29 just over three minutes later, before the Blue Jays put together a small rally to make it a 56-35 game at 9:03. Randolph-Macon's defense turned it over the remainder of the game, holding Hopkins to just seven points in the final nine minutes.

Rhoads and freshman Aleksandar Nikolic led the team with 10 points apiece, while Mobb had a career-high nine points on 4-of-5 shooting. All 16 Blue Jays that were dressed saw action in the game as Rhoads played a team-high 25 minutes. Tournament Most Outstanding Player Brandon Braxton led four Yellow Jackets in double figures with a game-high 16 points. He went 6-of-7 from the field and 4-of-4 from the line and also grabbed eight rebounds. Danny Jones and Brown each had 13 points, while Pugh chipped in 11.

Hopkins shot just 35.2 percent from the field, though the Blue Jays were 12-of-27 (44.4 percent) in the second half. Randolph-Macon meanwhile, shot 54.7 percent from the floor, including 44.4 percent (8-of-18) from downtown.

Hopkins returns to action and will host the 20th annual Blue Jay Invitational on January 3-4. Hopkins will face Keene State on Monday, January 3 with tip-off slated for 2:00 pm.