BOX SCORE
FERRUM, Va. — Ferrum College dropped its first home contest of the season on Wednesday night, falling to Hampden-Sydney College 87-83 inside Swartz Gym.
The visitors opened a 10-point advantage in the opening four minutes and change, 19-9, before
Derek Mitchell converted on a Marcus Hamilton lob, causing the raucous crowd to erupt. Mitchell capitalized on the free throw to make it 19-12, almost halfway through the first frame.
H-SC expanded its lead to nine, 27-18, after a couple Harrison George charity tosses at the 7:56 mark. The Tigers pushed their lead to 14, 36-22, with just under four minutes to play in the first stanza.
Ferrum (19-3) responded with a 6-0 spurt. Mitchell drained a jumper, while
Daryl Hart and
Lamont King had back-to-back steals to trim the deficit to single digits, 36-28. The ODAC members responded with a 6-0 run of their own to end the half with a 42-28 advantage.
Hampden-Sydney (13-8) shot a blistering 15 of 26 (58%) from the floor and shot 13 free throws, only missing one, in the opening half of action.
The Tigers expanded their lead to 15, 51-36, following a Ben Jessee trey at the 15:38 mark.
Keith Crump tacked on a couple free throws and Mitchell threw down the hammer to make it 51-40 with 13:46 remaining in the contest.
The visitor's lead dwindled to six, 64-58, with just under eight minutes remaining, complementary of a
J.T. Edwards three-pointer. Ferrum eventually got to within four, 75-71, thanks to a
Marcus Mayo old-fashioned three-point play.
With 15 seconds on the clock, Crump gathered a Mayo pass a buried a shot from downtown to make the score 84-80 Tigers. After Jessee split a pair of free throws, Mayo connected on a triple to bring the hosts to within two, 85-83.
On the other end, Randall Ward converted both attempts from the free-throw line to make it a two-possession game with seven seconds left, which ended up providing the final margin.
Ferrum got 26 points and 14 rebounds from Mitchell. Mayo had 21 points, Crump 13 and King had 11. Hampden-Sydney was led by Ru White's 17 points. George poured in 16 points and 10 rebounds, while Colin O'Neill had 16 points and Jessee contributed 14.
Both teams torched the nets, with Ferrum leading the way, shooting 33 of 57 (58%) and Hampden-Sydney connecting on 28 of 52 (54%). However, the game was arguably decided at the line. H-SC visited the charity stripe 33 times, converting 85% of them. Ferrum mustered only 15 trips, shooting at an 87% clip.
Coach Bill Tharp's club returns to the hardwood this weekend hosting two huge USA South clashes. Up first for the Panthers is Shenandoah University on Saturday, Feb. 12; tip-off is slated for 4 p.m. On Sunday, the only team to give Ferrum a loss in conference play, Christopher Newport University, visits Swartz Gym at 4 p.m. Both games are preceded by Coach Bryan Harvey's squad.
