WEEK NO. 5 (DEC. 31-JAN. 6)

Game 9 • W&L (3-5, 1-2) vs. Guilford (4-4, 1-2)
January 2, 2002 • Lexington, Va. • 7:00 pm

Game 10 • W&L (3-5, 1-2) at Roanoke (4-4, 1-2)
January 5, 2002 • Salem, Va. • 7:00 pm

SERIES NOTES:
W&L and Guilford have met 25 times over the years with the Quakers holding a 14-11 advantage in the all-time series. The Generals have won five of the last six meetings, however, Guilford won the last contest, 60-54, in the Warner Center. W&L and Roanoke will be playing each other for the 98th time with the Maroons claiming a 64-33 edge in the series. Roanoke has won each of the past 14 meetings dating back to the 1994-95 season.

LAST MEETING WITH GC (GC 60, W&L 54; JAN. 17, 2001; LEXINGTON, VA):
Senior guard Jaron Randall scored a team-high 15 points and recorded four steals to help lead Guilford to a 60-54 win over W&L at the Warner Center. The Quakers led by three points (30-27) at the half, but W&L fought back to take a one-point lead (35-34) with 16:18 remaining. However, the Generals would miss 12 of their next 13 shots from the field to fall behind by eight points (49-41) with 5:48 remaining. Guilford hit nine free throws from that point on to clinch the win. On the game, Guilford hit 22-of-36 charity tosses and outrebounded W&L, 38-33. The Generals shot just 32.1 percent from the field in the second half and 37.7 percent for the game. Center Aron McMillian added 14 points and senior center Todd Ashworth recorded a double-double with 11 points and 10 rebounds for the Quakers. W&L was led by center David Bode, who scored a career-high 15 points. Forward Scott Hettermann tallied 14 points and seven rebounds, while senior guard Will Ballard notched 10 points and nine rebounds.

LAST MEETING WITH RC (RC 75, W&L 61; JAN. 27, 2001; LEXINGTON, VA):
Roanoke ended the first half on a 15-2 run to take a 40-22 halftime lead in defeating Washington and Lee, 75-61, in Salem, Va. The Generals opened the game on a 10-2 surge over the first 3:14, but the Maroons responded with a 13-1 run over the next 6:32 to take the lead for good at 15-11. W&L climbed to within nine points (57-48) with 8:11 remaining in the contest, but could get no closer. Roanoke was led by senior forward Colby Leftwich, who tallied a game-high 16 points and eight rebounds. He was joined in double figures by guards Robby Pridgen (14 points) and Brad Dunleavy (13 points). Washington and Lee placed four players in double figures led by forward Scott Hettermann and senior guards Will Ballard and Chad Braley, who all scored 12 points. Forward Bob Bustamante added 11 points on 3-of-4 shooting from beyond the three-point arc. The Generals shot 56 percent (14-25) from the floor in the second half and 53.8 percent (7-13) from three-point land for the game.

UP NEXT FOR W&L:
Next week, W&L will host a trio of ODAC foes in Eastern Mennonite (Wed.), Lynchburg (Sat.) and Hampden-Sydney (Sun). The EMU game is slated for 7:00 pm, while both the Lynchburg and H-SC games are scheduled for 3:00 pm.

THE HEAD COACHES:
Jeff Lafave (Southern Connecticut St. '93) 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 16-39 (.291) overall, 3-1 against against Guilford and 0-5 against Roanoke. Lafave is assisted by Doug Stewart (Brown '94) and Barry Machado (Dartmouth '66). Guilford is led by third-year head coach Butch Estes (North Carolina '71). He is 20-36 (.357) at Guilford, 1-3 against W&L, and 247-221 (.528) for his career. Prior to Guilford, Estes was the head coach at Furman for nine seasons, earning Southern Conference Coach of the Year honors twice. Roanoke is led by 13th-year head coach Page Moir (Virginia Tech '84). Moir is 228-106 (.683) for his career at Roanoke, 22-3 against W&L.

LAST TIME OUT:
Bridgewater shot 15-of-22 (.682) from the field in the second half and erupted for 52 points in the final 20 minutes to defeat Washington and Lee, 77-55 at Nininger Hall. The Generals fell behind 6-0 just three minutes into the game, but fought back to take a 10-6 lead on a jumper from freshman forward Holton Freeman with 13:33 to play. Freeman would score the first 10 points for the Generals. W&L grabbed its largest lead of the game (23-19) with 1:54 left in the first half on a layup by freshman center Mark Franceski, but found itself trailing 25-23 at halftime as Bridgewater’s Brett Childers nailed a three-pointer with 34 seconds left. W&L freshman guard Mike Stuart knotted the game at 25-25 when he began the second half with a jumper. However, that was as close as the Generals would get as the Eagles used a 20-5 run over the next 10 minutes to open up a 45-30 lead with 11:17 to play. W&L was led by Freeman, who tallied a career-high 17 points on 6-of-12 shooting, including 4-of-7 from beyond the arc. Junior guard John Warren was the only other General to record double figures with 11 points. Bridgewater was led by Kyle Williford who scored a game-high 26 points and grabbed seven rebounds.

SCOUTING GUILFORD:
Guilford is coming off a 77-73 loss to Division I Western Carolina in its last contest on Dec. 11. The Quakers led 71-70 with under three minutes to play, but could not pull out the victory against the Catamounts. Senior center Aron McMillian led the way with 21 points, eight rebounds, three assists and two blocks. Sophomore forward Jevon Clarke notched 18 points, while sophomore guard Ron Bradford scored a career-high 15 points. Sophomore forward Josh Conner grabbed a career-high 12 boards. Western Carolina was coming off a 79-69 win at Florida State just three days earlier. On the season, Guilford is paced by Clarke, who averages 12.8 points and 4.4 rebounds per game. He is joined in double figures by Bradford (11.5 ppg) and McMillian (10.1 ppg). Conner is leading the ODAC in rebounding, averaging 9.8 boards per outing.

SCOUTING ROANOKE:
Roanoke hosts the V Foundation Classic on Wednesday and Thursday. The Maroons play Eastern Connecticut on Wednesday and will play either Savannah A&D or Averett on Thursday. In their last outing, Roanoke defeated Goucher, 92-74, on Dec. 8. The Maroons shot 51.6 percent from the floor and out-rebounded the Gophers 51-34 in the contest. Sophomore forward Jason Graffam led RC with 23 points and nine rebounds. Junior guard Josh Foster tallied 19 points and 13 rebounds, while senior guard Robby Pridgen added 12 points and four assists. For the season, Pridgen leads the team with an average of 17.4 points per game. Junior guard Kenny Harrell averages 13.0 points per game, while Foster averages 12.4 points per game on 52.5 percent shooting from the floor. The Maroons are forcing an average of 20.6 turnovers per game.

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 22-9 (.710) when allowing its opponent 59 points or less, 3-0 this season.

IT'S RAINING THREE'S:
W&L is shooting nearly 40 percent (.399) from beyond the three-point arc and is averaging nearly seven three-pointers a game thus far. Several of the team's newcomers are leading the way with freshman forward Holton Freeman and junior guard John Warren doing much of the damage. Freeman has hit 16-of-31 three-point attempts, tieing for 17th in Division III in three-point percentage (.516). Warren has nailed 11-of-23 of his three-point attempts (.478).

BY COMMITTEE:
W&L's scoring has come by committee this season as six different players have led the team in scoring in the Generals' eight games. Junior forward Scott Hettermann led the team in three games and claims the highest point total with 18 points against Wesley.

FOLLOWING THE LAYOFF:
W&L is 2-1 in its last three games following the layoff for exams and the Christmas holiday, including wins in each of the past two seasons. The Generals defeated Guilford, 50-48, on Jan. 3 last season and Virginia Wesleyan, 60-52, on Jan. 2, 2000.

FOR THE LITTLE MAN:
The Generals feature a small roster with just one player 6-foot-6 or over. Sophomore point guard Michael Denbow, who stands a mere 5-foot-11, leads the team with an average of 0.5 blocks per game.

BREAK OUT THE CHAMPAIGN:
Washington and Lee is just two wins from one of the great acheivements in college basketball. With two more victories the Generals can claim 1,000 wins for the history of the program. W&L's overall record is 998-945-1 over 96 seasons. Wittenberg University leads the way among Division III schools with 1,422 wins over 91 seasons. Only a total of 48 schools currently competing in Division III can boast 1,000 wins and, currently, no team is closer to the mark than W&L. The Generals are tied with Maryville College at 998 wins. Other teams closing in on the mark are Allegheny (994), Buffalo State (988) and Catholic (988). Among ODAC schools, only Randolph-Macon (1,164), Roanoke (1,163) and Hampden-Sydney (1,056) have more victories than W&L.

-- GENERALS --