ODAC TOURNAMENT QUARTERFINALS

W&L (7-17, 4-14) vs. Randolph-Macon (21-4, 16-2)
February 16, 2002 • Salem, Va. • 1:00 pm

SERIES NOTES:
W&L and Randolph-Macon have met 57 times with the Yellow Jackets holding a 45-12 advantage. R-MC has won each of the last 31 meetings dating back to Feb. 9, 1977 when the Generals defeated the Yellow Jackets, 75-73, in Lexington, Va.

LAST MEETING WITH R-MC:
(R-MC 62, W&L 39; JAN. 21, 2002; LEXINGTON, VA)
Top-ranked Randolph-Macon used a 26-6 run during the second half to defeat Washington and Lee, 62-39. The game was knotted at 22-22 at the break and the Yellow Jackets held a 29-27 lead with 16:37 remaining. R-MC began its run at the 15:07 mark and finished with a 55-33 lead with 2:58 left in the contest. The Yellow Jackets shot 60.9 percent in the second half and forced 13 W&L second half turnovers. The Generals were led by freshman center Mark Franceski, who tallied eight points and eight rebounds. Sophomore forward Hamill Jones, sophomore guard Michael Denbow and junior guard Toussaint Crawford all notched seven points for W&L. Randolph-Macon was paced by junior guard Tim Smith, who scored 13 points. Sophomore forward Kurt Bergmann added 11 points and seven rebounds. Junior forward Jared Mills, the Yellow Jackets’ leading scorer and rebounder, was limited to just three points and four rebounds. W&L was playing without its scoring and rebounding leader, Scott Hettermann.

LAST TOURNAMENT MEETING WITH R-MC:
(R-MC 66, W&L 53; FEB. 21, 1998; SALEM, VA)
Washington and Lee's men's basketball season ended with a 66-53 loss to Randolph-Macon in the quarterfinal round of the Old Dominion Athletic Conference Tournament. Kelly Dyer, Matt Jackson and Rich Peterson all scored 12 points for the Generals. Randolph-Macon shot 63 percent from the field in the first half to open up a 38-20 halftime lead and stretched the lead to 21 points early in the second half. W&L went on an 11-1 run, keyed by six Dyer points, late in the second half to cut the lead to 60-53 with 3:09 to play, but the Generals went scoreless down the stretch to end the threat. W&L finished the season with a record of 10-15, an eight-game improvement over 1996-97.

UP NEXT FOR W&L:
Should the Generals win, they would take on the winner of the Roanoke-Bridgewater game on Sunday at 2:00 pm.

THE HEAD COACHES:
Jeff Lafave (Southern Connecticut St. '92) is in his third season as the head coach at W&L. Lafave posted a 9-16 overall mark in his first season and led the Generals to their first ODAC Tournament win since the 1989-90 season. He is 20-53 (.274) overall, 0-6 against Randolph-Macon. Lafave is assisted by Doug Stewart (Brown '94) and Barry Machado (Dartmouth '66). Randolph-Macon is led by third-year head coach Mike Rhodes (Lebanon Valley '95). He is 50-26 (.658) for his career at Macon, 6-0 against W&L.

LAST TIME OUT:
Bridgewater ended the first half on a 16-4 run and never looked back in defeating Washington and Lee, 73-53, in ODAC men’s basketball action on Tuesday evening at the Warner Center. The Generals led by seven points (18-11) with 7:30 remaining in the opening stanza before the Eagles used their run to take a 27-22 halftime lead. W&L fought back to knot the game at 33-33 with 14:56 remaining, but Bridgewater surged on a 14-2 run over the next 7:45 to take a 12-point lead (47-35) and never trailed by more than 10 points the rest of the way. The Generals were led by freshman forward Mike Stuart, who tallied 12 points. Sophomore guard Michael Denbow registered a career-high 11 points and six assists, while junior guard Toussaint Crawford added 10 points. Bridgewater was paced by senior forward Kyle Williford, who notched 19 points and 11 rebounds. Senior guard Matt Stevens and freshman guard Ricky Easterling added 11 points each.

SCOUTING THE YELLOW JACKETS:
Randolph-Macon enters the ODAC Tournament ranked sixth in Division III. The Yellow Jackets are 21-4 overall, 16-2 in the ODAC, and are coming off an 81-50 win over Lynchburg on Tuesday evening. In that game, the Jackets shot 48.3 percent from the floor and forced 25 Hornet turnovers. Junior forward Jared Mills led the way with a game-high 21 points and seven rebounds. Sophomore forward Kurt Bergmann notched 10 points, while sophomore guard Ryan Stein tallied eight points and five assists. For the season, Mills leads the team in scoring (14.3 ppg) and rebounding (6.3) with Bergmann close behing. He averages 13.2 points and 6.1 boards per game. Stein averages 10.9 points and 2.6 rebounds per game, while junior guard Tim Smith contributes 7.6 points and a team-best 3.0 assists per game. The Yellow Jackets lead the ODAC in scoring defense, allowing an average of just 60.2 points per game. They are also the top shooting team in the ODAC, hitting 48.6 percent of their shots from the floor.

W&L IN THE ODAC TOURNAMENT:
W&L has played 33 ODAC Tournament games over the years and is 16-17 (.485) all-time in those games, 0-2 against Randolph-Macon. W&L has emerged as the ODAC Champion three times, with the last occurring on Feb. 23, 1980 at Hampden-Sydney (58-56). Only Hampden-Sydney and Roanoke have claimed more ODAC Tournament Championships than the Generals. The last meeting between the Yellow Jackets and the Generals in the ODAC Tournament occurred in the first round of the tournament on Feb. 21, 1998. Randolph-Macon prevailed in that contest, 66-53. The following is a breakdown of the Generals vs. the members of the ODAC in the tournament:

Bridgewater (4-0)
Eastern Mennonite (3-0)
Emory & Henry (1-0)
Guilford (0-0)
Hampden-Sydney (3-4)
Lynchburg (3-3)
Maryville (1-2)
Randolph-Macon (0-2)
Roanoke (1-5)
Va. Wesleyan (0-1)

KEEP EM' UNDER 60:
Washington and Lee has been known in recent years for its slow the pace style of play and it has been successful. During the last five seasons, W&L is 24-9 (.727) when allowing its opponent 59 points or less, 5-0 this season.

W&L VS. THE ODAC:
W&L sports a 166-230 (.419) all-time record in the ODAC and is 332-317 (.512) all-time against the current members of the Old Dominion Athletic Conference. The following is a breakdown of the Generals vs. the members of the ODAC:

Bridgewater (71-35)
E. Mennonite (40-22)
Emory & Henry (51-28)
Guilford (11-16)
Hamp.-Sydney (40-58)
Lynchburg (64-27)
Rand.-Macon (12-45)
Roanoke (33-66)
Va. Wesleyan (10-20)

TALE OF TWO HALVES:
The Generals have had trouble splicing together two good halves of basketball this season with the second half proving more difficult than the first. W&L has led or been tied at the half in seven of its last nine contests only to see the lead slip away at some point during the final 20 minutes. In four of those games, W&L held double-digit leads. On the season, W&L is being outscored by only 29 points in the first half of play, but is being outscored by 153 points in the second stanza.

BY COMMITTEE:
W&L's scoring has come by committee this season as nine different players have led the team in scoring. Freshman forward Mike Stuart claims the highest point total with 33 markers against Eastern Mennonite.

DROPPIN' DIMES:
Sophomore guard Michael Denbow is tied for fifth in the ODAC in assists (3.1 apg) and recently surpassed a career milestone in that department, surpassing 100 career assists. Denbow claims 120 career helpers, 75 of which have come this season. In a win over Mary Washington on Feb. 7, Denbow dropped a career-high nine dimes with just one turnover.

FREE THROW WOES:
The Generals have been struggling from the foul line this season, making just 58.5 percent (280-479) of their charity tosses. To make matters worse, W&L has sent its opponents to the line 601 times in 24 games (25.1 attempts per game) and they have hit 68.9 percent. Overall, the Generals have been outscored by 134 points on the free throw line.

HOW ABOUT THAT!:
Sophomore forward Hamill Jones had a career game at Emory & Henry on Jan. 23. Jones destroyed his previous career-high performance (10) by tallying 32 points against the Wasps. In that game, he went 15-of-16 (.938) from the field, setting a new school record for field goal percentage in a game.

TOP GAME -- EVER:
Freshman forward Mike Stuart had the finest game ever by a first-year W&L player as he tallied 33 points in the Generals' first meeting with EMU. Stuart was 11-of-16 from the floor, including 7-of-10 shooting from beyond the three-point arc. His seven three's tied the school record for three's in a game held by three others.

COMMA KIDS:
The 2001-02 W&L men's basketball team can now be referred to as the comma kids. The Generals finally acheived the comma associated with the 1,000th win in school history with a 62-60 win over E&H on Jan. 30. W&L's all-time record now stands at 1,002-956-1 over 96 seasons of basketball. Only a total of 50 schools currently competing in Division III can boast 1,000 wins. Among ODAC schools, only Randolph-Macon, Roanoke and Hampden-Sydney have more victories than W&L.

ALMOST SOPHOMORES NOW:
Al McGuire once said that the best thing about freshmen is that they become sophomores. In some cases that's true, but not when speaking of the W&L freshmen class. The Generals' seven freshmen have combined to average 26.9 points, 11.3 rebounds, 3.0 assists per game. Together, they have accounted for 44.4 percent of W&L's points and 35.8 percent of its rebounds. Forward Mike Stuart is providing the largest contribution, averaging 9.3 points and 2.3 rebounds per game.

IF IT GOES AN EXTRA FRAME:
W&L has played in two overtime contests this season, posting a 1-1 record. The Generals have played in nine overtime contests over the last four seasons and are 3-6 in those games. Among the overtime wins are Lynchburg, Eastern Mennonite and Greensboro.

TWO IS NICE, BUT THREE IS BETTER:
Junior guard John Warren, a transfer from Emory University, leads the team with 35 three-pointers made and 102 three's attempted. His 35 makes already rank 19th on W&L's all-time list. Freshman forward Mike Stuart claims 31 makes, 20th on the all-time list.

FRANCESKI vs. MACON:
Freshman center Mark Franceski has played well this season against Randolph-Macon. The 6-foot-6 Franceski averaged 9.5 points, 6.0 rebounds and 1.0 blocks per game in his two meetings with the Yellow Jackets. He hit 9-of-14 (.643) shots from the floor in the two games.

MILLS vs. THE GENERALS:
Randolph-Macon junior forward Jared Mills loves to see W&L on the schedule. Mills has made a killing against the Generals in his six meetings with them. In those games, he has averaged 14.8 points, 8.8 rebounds and 3.0 assists per game. He has shot 59.2 percent from the floor and 83.8 percent from the foul line. Twice Mills has tallied career-highs in points against W&L, scoring 24 points in a game during his freshman season and 25 points in the earlier meeting this season in Ashland, Va.

INJURY UPDATE:
The Generals have been hampered by injuries all season long and the situation has not changed for the tournament. Junior forward Scott Hettermann, W&L's leading scorer and rebounder, is questionable for the game against Randolph-Macon. Hettermann suffered a severe ankle injury against Eastern Mennonite last Saturday. Thus far, Hettermann has missed three games due to ankle problems. In addition to Hettermann, freshman forward Holton Freeman is also out. Freeman suffered a broken thumb in late December. He returned to play two games before being sidelined again as the thumb was not healing properly. Freshman guard Wes McAdams has seen just one minute of action this season after suffering a separated shoulder several times early in the season. He has not returned to the lineup after paying one minute against Greensboro on Nov. 25.

-- GENERALS --