College Men’s Basketball Final – Guilford 77, Eastern Mennonite 66

HARRISONBURG, Va. – Senior Josh Pittman (Archdale, N.C./Trinity) scored 18 of his game-high 21 points in the second half to lead visiting Guilford College past Eastern Mennonite, 77-66, for the Quakers’ eighth straight basketball win.

Guilford (13-2, 5-1 Old Dominion Athletic Conference) made a season-high 62.5% (10-16) of its three-pointers to sweep the season series from the host Royals (10-5, 3-3 ODAC).

Pittman made his first five three-pointers before missing his only other attempt late in the game. He drained two trifectas during an 18-2 Guilford run midway through the second half that turned 41-39 lead into a 57-43 margin with 12:07 left in regulation. The Quakers’ Will Freeman added six of his 10 points during the run.

The Royals answered with a 12-2 run of their own thanks to Dajon Daniel’s hot shooting. The junior guard made four-of-six second-half three-pointers, three during the spurt, which pulled Eastern Mennonite to within 59-55 with 6:48 remaining.

Freeman answered at the other end for Guilford and following a Royals’ turnover, Matt McCarthy hit his third three-pointer to restore a nine-point Quakers’ lead. Eastern Mennonite never drew closer than seven points as Guilford sealed the win with 10-for-12 free throw shooting in the final 73 seconds.

McCarthy finished with 15 points and a career-high five steals for Guilford. Forwards Zeb Richardson (West Jefferson, N.C./Ashe County) and Freeman scored 10 points apiece and combined for 12 rebounds. Jake Hopkins (Kernersville, N.C./East Forsyth) tossed in eight points, corralled a game-best 11 boards and shared game-high honors with four assists.

R.J. Sims paced Eastern Mennonite with 19 points, 10 in the second half. Daniel finished with 13 points and Andrew Thorne totaled 14 points, six boards and two blocks before fouling out. The Royals shot less than 37 percent from the floor and turned the ball over 17 times, which led to 18 Guilford points.

The Quakers are back in action Wednesday (1/15) against nationally ranked Randolph College, which suffered its first loss of the season Saturday at Virginia Wesleyan, 72-66.

Guilford vs Eastern Mennonite
01/12/13 2:00 p.m. at Harrisonburg, VA – Yoder Arena
At Harrisonburg, VA – Yoder Arena


GUILFORD – 77
EASTERN MENNONITE -66

GUILFORD (13-2, 5-1 ODAC): PITTMAN, Josh 5-10 6-8 21; McCARTHY, Matt 5-12 2-2 15; RICHARDSON, Zeb 5-11 0-0 10; FREEMAN, Will 4-9 2-2 10; HOPKINS, Jake 3-8 2-5 8; TRACY, Travis 2-5 2-3 8; HINTON, Jarred 0-2 5-6 5; STEVENSON, Ben 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 24-57 19-26 77.

EASTERN MENNONITE (10-5, 3-3 ODAC): SIMS, R.J. 7-14 3-6 19; THORNE, Andrew 6-12 0-0 14; DANIEL, Dajon 4-10 1-213; LONGACRE, Owen 2-7 1-2 6; FURBUSH, Woody 2-4 0-0 4; WILLIAMS, James 2-5 0-0 4; FALK, David 0-2 3-6 3; YATES, Ryan 1-6 0-2 2; VALENTINE, Dorian 0-3 1-2 1; BURROUGHS, Adam 0-2 0-0 0; RICHARDSON, Mike 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 24-65 9-20 66.

   Guilford......................   35   42  -   77
   Eastern Mennonite.............   29   37  -   66

3-point goals–Guilford 10-16 (PITTMAN, Josh 5-6; McCARTHY, Matt 3-7; TRACY, Travis 2-2; HINTON, Jarred 0-1), Eastern Mennonite 9-28 (DANIEL, Dajon 4-8; SIMS, R.J. 2-5; THORNE, Andrew 2-6; LONGACRE, Owen 1-2; YATES, Ryan 0-1; VALENTINE, Dorian 0-2; BURROUGHS, Adam 0-2; WILLIAMS, James 0-2).
Fouled out–Guilford-TRACY, Travis, Eastern Mennonite-THORNE, Andrew.
Rebounds–Guilford 40 (HOPKINS, Jake 11), Eastern Mennonite 42 (FALK, David 9).
Assists–Guilford 15 (PITTMAN, Josh 4; TRACY, Travis 4; HOPKINS, Jake 4), Eastern Mennonite 11 (WILLIAMS, James 3).
Total fouls–Guilford 16, Eastern Mennonite 18.
Technical fouls–Guilford-None, Eastern Mennonite-None.
Attendance–693

Old Dominion Athletic Conference game