GREENSBORO, N.C. – Senior Gabriel Lowder (Yadkinville, N.C./North Forsyth) scored 15 of his game-high 18 points in the second half to carry Guilford College past Old Dominion Athletic Conference (ODAC) basketball rival Hampden-Sydney College, 83-72, Wednesday.
Guilford’s Josh Pittman (Trinity, N.C./Trinity) added 16 points as the Quakers (17-7, 11-4 ODAC) moved past the Tigers (17-7, 10-5 ODAC) into third place in the league with one regular-season game to play.
Hampden-Sydney’s Harrison George (Raleigh, N.C./Leesville Road) scored 10 points and Ru White (Chesterfield, Va./Allegany) added nine in a tight first half that saw four ties and 11 lead changes. The Tigers led by seven late in the period before Brad Monroe (Asheboro, N.C./Eastern Randolph) and Will Freeman (Ft. Wayne, Ind./Richmond Senior (N.C.)) scored consecutive hoops to pull Guilford within 35-32 at the break.
Trailing by one, Guilford’s Carson Sullivan (Charlotte, N.C./Charlotte Christian (Pennsylvania) stroked a three-pointer two minutes into the second half to give the Quakers a 41-39 lead and trigger a decisive 12-4 run. Lowder had five points during the spurt, which opened a 50-43 margin five minutes into the half. The Tigers cut the deficit to four, but the Quakers scored six unanswered points and never let Hampden-Sydney closer than six points in the final 14 minutes.
Guilford forced the Tigers into 16 turnovers, 10 in the second half, and held them to a pedestrian .448 field-goal percentage. Hampden-Sydney entered the game ranked first in NCAA Division III with a 52.5% field-goal percentage and 20.9 points per game victory margin.
Lowder, who hit four of Guilford’s 10 three-pointers, also had five rebounds. Pittman added three boards, four assists and four steals in a rare reserve role as the Quakers started the team’s five seniors in their last regular-season home contest. Sullivan, also a regular starter who came off the bench, chipped in 10 points, five assists and four rebounds. Rookie reserves Freeman and Matt McCarthy (Rockville, Md./Good Counsel) contributed 11 and 10 points, respectively.
George, the defending ODAC Player of the Year, scored a team-high 16 points and had a game-best 12 rebounds and five assists. White finished with 13 points, eight boards and three blocks and Khobi Williamson (Norfolk, Va./Maury) added 12 points and seven rebounds.
The Quakers close the regular season at ODAC-foe Eastern Mennonite University Saturday (2/18) at 2:00 p.m. The Tigers host Randolph-Macon College Saturday at 2:00 p.m. in another meeting of top-four ODAC teams.
Hampden-Sydney vs Guilford
02/15/12 7:00 pm at Greensboro, NC – Ragan-Brown Field House
GUILFORD – 83
HAMPDEN-SYDNEY – 72
HAMPDEN-SYDNEY (17-7, 10-5 ODAC): GEORGE, Harrison 6-10 2-3 16; WHITE, Ru 4-7 5-6 13; WILLIAMSON, Khobi 5-10 2-2 12; JESSEE, Ben 3-7 2-2 10; LEWIS, Greg 2-8 1-1 6; WARD, Randall 2-6 0-0 6; HARGROVE, Leon 1-2 1-2 3; OBRADOVIC, Sasha 1-4 0-0 2; LUMPKIN, Fletcher 1-2 0-0 2; SMITH, Alex 1-1 0-0 2; WETZEL, Keegan 0-0 0-0 0; ANDERSON, Cam 0-1 0-0 0. Totals 26-58 13-16 72.
GUILFORD (17-7, 11-4 ODAC) ; LOWDER, Gabriel 6-14 2-4 18; PITTMAN, Josh 5-12 4-5 16; FREEMAN, Will 5-10 1-3 11; SULLIVAN, Carson 4-6 0-1 10; McCARTHY, Matt 2-5 4-4 10; EFIRD, Gene 3-5 2-2 8; GIBBS, Kevin 1-4 3-5 5; MONROE, Brad 2-2 1-2 5; STAFFORD, Justin 0-0 0-0 0; CLOYD, Will 0-0 0-0 0; HINTON, Jarred 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 28-58 17-26 83.
Hampden-Sydney................ 35 37 - 72 Guilford...................... 32 51 - 83
3-point goals–Hampden-Sydney 7-26 (WARD, Randall 2-4; JESSEE, Ben 2-6; GEORGE, Harrison 2-5; LEWIS, Greg 1-6; OBRADOVIC, Sasha 0-3; LUMPKIN, Fletcher 0-1; HARGROVE, Leon 0-1), Guilford 10-24 (LOWDER, Gabriel 4-9; SULLIVAN, Carson 2-3; PITTMAN, Josh 2-8; McCARTHY, Matt 2-4). Fouled out–Hampden-Sydney-None, Guilford-None.
Rebounds–Hampden-Sydney 36 (GEORGE, Harrison 12), Guilford 34 (MONROE, Brad 8).
Assists–Hampden-Sydney 15 (GEORGE, Harrison 5), Guilford 18 (SULLIVAN, Carson 5).
Total fouls–Hampden-Sydney 24, Guilford 19.
Technical fouls–Hampden-Sydney-None, Guilford-None.
A-797
Old Dominion Athletic Conference game