Guilford College Men’s Basketball Exacts Revenge, Ousts Virginia Wesleyan in ODAC Quarterfinals
Luke Proctor leads all players with 19 points to advance to Salem
from Bryce Johnson, Director of Athletic Communications
VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. – Avenging their 2024 result in the same round, the fifth-seeded Guilford College men’s basketball team (20-6, 12-4 ODAC) bounced fourth-seeded Virginia Wesleyan University (19-7, 12-4 ODAC), 74-61 in the Quarterfinals round of the Old Dominion Athletic Conference (ODAC) Tournament on Wednesday evening at the Townebank Arena.
Matched up with the Marlins, who were responsible for eliminating the Quakers in two of the previous three ODAC Tournaments, including last year’s, GC did what they had to with the seeding upset victory to advance to the conference semifinal for the 12th time in program history. Their opponent will by the top-seeded Yellow Jackets of Randolph-Macon College who dispatched of Shenandoah University, 81-51, in their opening round clash.
Attempting just 18 threes on the night, Guilford was efficient with them, making seven but more impressively against one of the nation’s most difficult teams to score on, and the conference leader in field goal percentage against, GC connected on exactly half of their 52 attempts from the field in the winning effort while restricting Va. Wes. to just a .389 field goal percentage. They also dominated the interior, holding a 34-26 edge in the paint and 14-4 advantage on second chances.
Luke Proctor (Apex, N.C.) rose to meet the moment finishing just a point shy of his career-high leading all players with 19 points on 5-of-6 from the field making all of his career-high eight free throw attempts. Like they did in the regular season, VWU made it a point to limit Nick Farrar (Apex, N.C.) although their efforts were less fruitful this time around as he scored 15 points to go with a game-bests of nine boards and three assists along with two steals and a block. Caleb Farrish (McLeansville, N.C.) gave GC a third player in double-figures with ten points along with five caroms.
Omari Deveaux was the lone Marlin to reach double-digits scoring, finishing with 16 points albeit on 4-of-13 from the field. Khai Seargeant was their number-two scorer with nine points on 3-of-9. Guilford really did great work limiting Amari Moorer who managed just nine points on 4-for-11 although he did lead the hosts in rebounding with eight.
The games’ early stages transpired exactly as one would expect from these defensive stalwarts, with both sides struggling to take the lid off before Luke Proctor finally broke the ice a little over three minutes in with a couple of free throws. Chase Ellis (Douglasville, N.C.) would follow suit with a trey before Proctor made one of his own as the score went from nil-nil to 8-0 in a blink. VWU would remain in the two-to-three possession range for a stretch before Guilford pulled away. Up 13-8, Dawson Edwards (Durham, N.C.) and Caleb Furr (Warrenton, Va.) made consecutive layups and Bobby Samples (Brighton, Mich.) hit a step-back from distance for a 7-0 burst. VWU got four points against Guilford’s two before the Quakers got another 7-0 run, this time from a pair of twos by Farrar and a Gabe Proctor (Apex, N.C.) three as all-told, it was a 16-4 stretch to seize a 29-12 lead at the under-seven media timeout.
Out of the stoppage, VWU trimmed one off the deficit before another outburst by the cardinal and grey. A Farrar layup, an Edwards second-chance two, two more from Edwards, a Farrar free throw, and another pair from Edwards constituted a 9-0 stretch and while the Marlins got the final tallies of the half, GC led 40-17 into the locker rooms.
Tasked with maintaining the big lead, Guilford would do just that in the second stanza. VWU would get the deficit under 20 on a few occasions, but the Quakers consistently had an answer. Just once did GC not respond with a basket on the ensuing possession following a hoop to get inside 20 for Virginia Wesleyan over the initial 18 minutes. Even when the hosts finally did string some points together, inside the final 120 seconds, it was far too late, as Guilford advanced with the 74-61 win.
The remainder of the ODAC Tournament will be held at a neutral venue at the Salem Civic Center in Salem, Va. The Quakers will clash with the Yellow Jackets in the early contest as they will tipoff at 2:00 PM.
#GoQuakes