Washington and Lee University
THE SERIES':
W&L and Eastern Mennonite are meeting for the 73rd time, with the Generals holding a 47-25 advantage in the all-time series. W&L has won each of the past four meetings, including a 79-65 victory earlier this season in Harrisonburg, Va. W&L and Roanoke will be meeting for the 111th time, with the Maroons holding a 74-36 advantage in the all-time series. Roanoke has won each of the past four games, including a 71-64 victory at W&L earlier this season.
LAST TIME OUT:
Washington and Lee jumped out to an 18-8 lead in the opening 12:15 of the game and never trailed again in posting a 66-51 win over Hampden-Sydney in ODAC men’s basketball action on Sunday afternoon at the Warner Center. The Generals led by 15 points (32-17) at the break and extended their advantage to as many as 19 points (44-25) with 15:24 left in the game. The Tigers chipped away at the W&L lead, eventually cutting it to a five-point contest (54-49) with 5:13 remaining, but the Generals closed on a 12-2 run to claim their fourth-straight win and their first win over Hampden-Sydney since the 1997-98 season (20 games). Washington and Lee shot 56.0 percent (14-25) in the second half and 51.9 percent (27-52) for the game and was led by senior forward Greg Bienemann’s 23 points on 9-of-11 shooting from the floor. Senior forward Femi Kusimo chipped in 12 points and seven rebounds. Hampden-Sydney was led by sophomore guard Turner King, who registered 15 points and seven boards. Senior forward Troy Kaase added 12 points.
LAST MEETING WITH EASTERN MENNONITE:
Senior forwards Greg Bienemann and Femi Kusimo combined to shoot 22-30 (.733) from the floor and scored a combined 45 points in leading the Generals to a 79-65 win. As a team, W&L shot 57.6 percent (34-59) from the floor and held a 40-28 advantage on the boards. W&L never trailed in the contest and led by 16 points (57-41) with 14:42 remaining. The Royals used a quick 9-0 spurt to cut it to a seven-point game at 57-50 with 9:44 left in the game, but W&L used a 13-0 run to put the game away. Bienemann led W&L in scoring with 24 points on 12-of-19 shooting from the floor. He also grabbed seven rebounds, dished four assists and blocked two shots. Kusimo tallied a season-best 21 points on 10-of-11 shooting, grabbed nine rebounds, had three assists and two steals. Junior forward Kirk Jones chipped in 11 points and five boards. Senior forward Brad Parkes paced EMU with 18 points and six rebounds. Freshman guard George Johnson added 14 points on 4-of-4 shooting from behind the arc.
SCOUTING EASTERN MENNONITE:
Eastern Mennonite is coming off a 103-75 loss to Guilford on Sunday. The Royals hit 11 three-pointers in the game, but the Quakers shot 59.4 percent from the field and held a 47-29 advantage on the boards in claiming the win. Senior guard Jered Lyons led EMU with 18 points on 6-of-9 shooting from behind the arc. Freshman guards D.J. Hinson and Todd Phillips chipped in 10 points each. For the year, senior forward Brad Parkes leads the Royals in scoring (18.6 ppg) and rebounding (7.9 rpg). Lyons averages 9.7 points per outing, while freshman guard George Johnson averages 9.1 points per game.
LAST MEETING WITH ROANOKE:
Roanoke College recovered from a 12-1 deficit to start the game in posting a 71-64 victory over Washington and Lee at the Warner Center. The Maroons missed their first seven shots from the field and trailed by 11 points with 14:17 left in the first half. However, Roanoke chipped away at the Generals’ lead and the teams went into the half tied at 34-34. Roanoke then began the second half on an 11-4 run to assume a 45-38 advantage with 11:09 left in the game and never relinquished the lead. W&L cut it to a two-point game (63-61) on a three-pointer by junior guard Chris McHugh with 36 seconds remaining, but Roanoke hit all eight of its free throws from that point on to post the seven-point win. The Generals were led by senior forward Greg Bienemann, who totaled a game-high 28 points and 13 rebounds. McHugh tallied a career-high 15 points on 4-of-6 shooting from three-point range, while senior forward Femi Kusimo added 10 points and five rebounds. Roanoke was paced by senior guard A.J. Dowell, who notched 23 points and four rebounds. Senior forward Josh LaPorte chipped in 17 points and eight boards.
SCOUTING ROANOKE:
Roanoke is 13-3 overall and 7-2 in the ODAC following a 90-64 win over Lynchburg on Sunday. The Maroons will travel to play Bridgewater on Wednesday, before hosting the Generals on Saturday. In the win over Lynchburg, Roanoke raced out to a 45-24 halftime lead and never looked back. The Maroons held LC to just 28.8 percent shooting from the floor and posted a 52-38 advantage on the boards. Senior guard Ben Shrader led RC with 18 points on 6-of-10 shooting from three-point range. Junior guard Zach Milton and junior center Curtis Peery added 12 points each. For the season, Peery leads Roanoke with averages of 13.5 points and 6.9 rebounds per game. Senior guard A.J. Dowell contributes 12.8 points and 3.0 rebounds per game, while senior forward Josh LaPorte averages 9.6 points, 7.8 rebounds, 2.7 assists, 1.8 steals and 1.3 blocks per game.
SCORCHING THE NETS:
The Generals are shooting 60.0 percent (135-225) from the floor over their last four games and are now shooting 51.4 percent (420-817) from the field for the season. That total is tops in the ODAC, ranks in the Top 10 in Division III and is the highest season shooting percentage by a Generals' team since the 1983-84 team shot 51.5 percent from the floor. Individually, senior forward Femi Kusimo leads the team and ranks in the Top 10 nationally with a .651 shooting percentage. Senior forward Greg Bienemann is shooting .611 from the floor, good for Top 25 in Division III.
STRONG START = STRONG FINISH:
W&L is 18-1 in its last 19 games (9-1 this season) when leading at the break and has compiled a 52-24 (.684) record over the past 10 years when it leads at the break. W&L has won a total of 68 games during that stretch, meaning that the Generals have led at halftime in nearly 77 percent of their wins during the last 10 years.
ON THE GLASS:
W&L was out-rebounded in seven of its first eight games of the season, but has since recoevered to hold the rebounding edge in each of the last seven contests. W&L now holds a +0.5 rebounding advantage for the season and has posted a +8.0 advantage on the boards over the last seven games.
STREAK SPEAK:
W&L is on its second four-game winning streak of the season and the Generals' current streak is tied for the longest streak in the ODAC with Virginia Wesleyan and Guilford. The last time W&L posted a five-game winning streak occurred during the 1988-89 season when the Generals strung together a nine-game streak followed by a seven-game streak en route to a 20-7 record. During the current win streak, W&L has shot 60.0 percent (135-225) from the floor, 41.5 percent (17-41) from three-point range and 71.0 percent (44-62) from the foul line, has held a 33.2-24.5 (+8.7) advantage on the boards and has logged 81 assists to just 62 turnovers.
FABULOUS FEMI:
Senior forward Femi Kusimo has been the Generals' top shooter over the past four seasons. Kusimo is a career 60.4 percent (355-588) shooter from the floor and last season, he set a new W&L season record by shooting 61.5 percent (110-179) en route to averaging 10.8 points and 5.3 rebounds per game. This season, Kusimo is second on the team in scoring with an average of 12.3 points per game and he is shooting 65.1 percent from the floor. Kusimo has two games this season, including E&H, in which he has gone 10-for-11 from the field. He is also 28-for-39 (.718) from the floor in his last four games. Kusimo currently lays claim to 824 career points.
BIENEMANN NAMED PLAYER OF THE WEEK:
Senior forward Greg Bienemann has been named the ODAC Player of the Week after his performances last week when he shot 73.5 percent (36-49) from the floor and averaged 27.7 points, 8.0 rebounds, 1.7 assists, 1.7 blocks and 0.7 steals per game in a 3-0 week. Bienemann currently leads the team in scoring (22.7 ppg) and rebounding (8.1 rpg) and blocks (1.1 bpg) and is second in assists (2.4 apg) and field-goal percentage (.611). He claims 66 career double-digit scoring efforts and 22 games of at least 20 points. He has also scored in double-figures for 22-straight games dating back to last season, including a career-high 36-point effort in a win over Emory & Henry last Wednesday. With his 341 points this season, Bienemann has moved into 11th place on the Generals' all-time scoring list with 1,355 career points.
W&L ALL-TIME LEADING SCORERS
1. Dom Flora (1954-58), 2,310
2. Jay Handlan (1948-52), 2,002
3. Mel Cartwright (1966-67), 1,800
4. Mike Daniel (1968-72), 1,665
5. Skip Lichtfuss (1970-74), 1,592
6. Lee Marshall (1954-57), 1,561
7. Chris Jacobs (1987-91), 1,523
8. Cam Dyer (1992-96), 1,508
9. John Lee Graves (1980-84), 1,441
10. Pat Dennis (1974-78), 1,428
11. Greg Bienemann (2004-pr.), 1,355
12. Brian Hanson (1979-83), 1,338
13. Mike Neer (1967-70), 1,289
14. Ed Hart (1987-91), 1,238
15. Jeff Harralson (1983-87), 1,219
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