Game 18 • W&L (3-14) vs. Averett (0-14) • January 28, 2004 • 7:00 pm

Game 19 • W&L (3-14, 2-9) vs. Roanoke (9-8, 3-7) • February 1, 2004 • 5:00 pm

THE SERIES':
W&L and Averett will be meeting for the eighth time with the Generals holding a 5-2 advantage in the all-time series. The two teams have not met since an 86-83 Averett win on Feb. 4, 1991. Averett participated in the W&L Tip-off Tournament last season but the two teams did not meet.

W&L and Roanoke will be meeting for the 103rd time with the Maroons holding a 69-33 advantage in the all-time series. Roanoke has won each of the last 19 meetings in the series, including a 86-63 win back on Jan. 10 in Salem, Va. W&L's last win over the Maroons came on Jan. 7, 1995, an 85-65 triumph in the Warner Center.

UP NEXT:
Next week, W&L will host Emory & Henry on Wednesday (7:00 pm), travel to Hampden-Sydney on Saturday (2:00 pm), then host Lynchburg on Sunday (3:00 pm).

THE HEAD GENERAL:
Adam Hutchinson (Amherst '93) is in his first season as the head coach at Washington and Lee. Hutchinson came to W&L from Case Western Reserve University, where he posted a 14-36 record in two seasons. Hutchinson also served as the head coach at Steven's Tech for two seasons and claims a 34-81 (.296) overall record in five seasons as a head coach. Hutchinson is assisted by Ryan Kadlubowski (Rochester '03) and Curtis Buxton. Averett is led by 12th-year Head Coach Kirk Chandler (Elon '81), who is 90-209 (.301) with the Cougars. Roanoke is led by 15th-year Head Coach Page Moir (Virginia Tech '84). This season, Moir passed Ed Green as the winningest coach in the history of Roanoke basketball. His career record stands at 265-132 (.668).

LAST TIME OUT:
Fourth-ranked Randolph-Macon broke a 48-48 tie on a pair of free throws by senior forward Kurt Bergmann with 8:29 remaining and held the lead the rest of the way in defeating Washington and Lee, 66-61, in ODAC men’s basketball action on Sunday afternoon at the Warner Center. Washington and Lee hung close with the Yellow Jackets, never trailing by more than four points in the first half. Macon extended to a six-point advantage (32-26) in the opening minutes of the second stanza, but the Generals climbed back to take a one-point lead (40-39) on a four-point play by freshman guard Chris Halkitis with 13:11 remaining. The game would be tied four times in the next five minutes before the Yellow Jackets assumed a seven-point lead (60-53) with 42 seconds remaining. The Generals would crawl back to 62-59 with 17 seconds remaining, but R-MC junior guard Justin Moyer nailed four free throws in the final 15 seconds to ice the game. The Generals were led by Halkitis, who scored a game-high 19 points and grabbed eight rebounds. Senior forward Hamill Jones added 10 points on 5-of-7 shooting. Bergmann paced the Yellow Jackets with 16 points and eight rebounds. Moyer scored 15 points on 10-of-10 shooting from the foul line, while sophomore forward Justin Wansley contributed 14 points and eight boards.

SCOUTING AVERETT:
Averett fell to 0-14 on the season with a 95-80 loss to Christopher Newport on Sunday afternoon. The Cougars led 43-41 at the half, but shot just 39.3 percent in the second half in dropping the 15-point decision to the Captains. Averett placed five players in double figures led by junior forward Jerrod Harris, who tallied 18 points and eight rebounds. Sophomore guard Sterling Williams scored 17 points, while freshman forward Andrew Boor, freshman guard Matthew Jordan and senior guard Joey Barksdale added 14, 11 and 10 points, respectively. For the season, Averett is led by Harris, who averages 15.4 points and 6.3 rebounds per game. Senior forward Jermaine Coston averages 11.1 points and 6.3 rebounds per game, while Williams adds 8.3 points per game. As a team, the Cougars shoot 37.3 percent from the floor, 27.6 percent from three-point range and 73.4 percent from the foul line. Averett has been haunted on the defensive end, allowing an average of 85.2 points per game. Dating back until the beginning of last season, the Cougars have lost 21 consecutive games.

SCOUTING ROANOKE:
Roanoke is 9-8 overall, 3-7 in the ODAC following a 61-58 win over Virginia Wesleyan on Sunday. The Maroons opened up a 29-20 halftime edge and held on the for win. Senior center Kevinn Hunter paced RC with 20 points and eight rebounds. Senior forward Jason Graffam and sophomore guard Jared Butler both added 13 points in the win. On the season, Butler leads the way, averaging 14.1 points, 3.0 rebounds and 2.8 assists per game. Hunter averages 11.7 points and 5.8 rebounds per game, while shooting a team-high 57.2 percent from the floor. Graffam contributes 10.4 points and 7.4 rebounds per outing. The Maroons will play Eastern Mennonite on Wednesday before taking on the Generals on Sunday.

LAST MEETING WITH ROANOKE:
Roanoke connected on 30-of-58 from the field, including 11-of-24 from three-point range, as the Maroons downed Washington and Lee, 86-63. The Generals raced out to a 14-5 lead in the first 3:45 of the contest, but Roanoke answered the visitors with a 20-4 run that gave the Maroons a 25-18 lead with 8:20 remaining in the first half. Freshman forward Coleman Lyons pulled W&L back to within four points when he capitalized on a three-point play at 7:44 before halftime, but the Generals would get no closer as Roanoke extended its lead through the remainder of the evening. Freshman guard Chris Halkitis led W&L with 16 points off 5-for-12 shooting from the field, including a 4-for-8 performance from beyond the three-point arc. Sophomore forward David Will notched a double-double on the evening with 12 points and a team-high 10 rebounds, while Lyons contributed 12 points. Sophomore guard Ryan Flynn rounded out the Generals’ double-digit scorers with 11 points. Roanoke’s Jared Butler connected on 6-for-7 from beyond the three-point arc as he notched a game-high 25 points and dished out a game-high seven assists. Kevinn Hunter and Drew Crowder both reached double-figures for the Maroons with 16 and 13 points, respectively.

KEEP EM' UNDER 60:
Defense does win games as evidenced by W&L's record in low-scoring games. During the last seven seasons, W&L is 30-14 (.682) when allowing its opponent 59 points or less, 2-3 this season.

STRONG START = STRONG FINISH:
A quick start has been imperative to the Generals winning games. Over the past six years, W&L is 27-15 (.643) when leading at the half. During that same stretch, W&L has won a total of 38 games, meaning that W&L has led at the break in just over 71 percent of its wins during the last six years. However, W&L has lost its last three games when leading at the break and two of W&L's three wins this season have come when trailing at the half.

DEAD-EYE:
Freshman guard Chris Halkitis has been a "dead-eye" shooter from three-point range in his rookie season. Halkitis has hit an ODAC-best 44 three-point field goals and is shooting 47.8 percent (44-92) from beyond the arc. He has at-least one three-pointer in each of the last 14 contests and is averaging 2.6 three's made per game this season. Not just a shooter, Halikits also leads the team in steals (25) and is second in assists (30) and rebounds (4.4 rpg.). Halkitis had a breakout week last week, averaging 18.7 points and 5.7 rebounds per game. He shot 55.6 percent (20-36) from the floor and 56.0 percent from three-point range (14-25). Halkitis now claims enough made three-pointers to qualify for the NCAA statistics and should be ranked among the Top 10 in Division III in three-point percentage when the new rankings come out this week.

THREE MAN:
Junior guard Mike Stuart is a proven threat from beyond the three-point arc, hitting 95-of-268 (.355) career three-point attempts. His 95 made triples are tied for eighth all-time at W&L and his 265 attempts rank seventh all-time. Stuart has hit 27-of-70 (.386) three-point attempts this season.

SEEING TRIPLE:
As a team, W&L is also heating up from beyond 19 feet, 9 inches. Over the last six contests, W&L is averaging 7.5 made three's per game while shooting 42.9 percent (45-105) from beyond the arc.

AT THE CHARITY STRIPE:
W&L's opponents have hit (252) more free throws than W&L has taken (239) this season. The Generals are averaging 20.8 fouls per game leading to their opponents have taken 154 more free throws (393 to 239).

HOME SWEET HOME:
After playing eight of its first 11 games on the road to begin the season, W&L finally gets to enjoy the comforts of the Warner Center. W&L plays its next three games and six of the final eight games at home.

MORE HOME NOTES:
W&L is 10-6 (.625) against non-conference opponents at home since the beginning of the 1997-98 season, 1-1 this season.

HELPING HAND:
Senior point guard Michael Denbow claims 42 assists and just 26 turnovers this season. He has played in 89 games during his career, totaling 239 assists. Denbow can climb into the top five in school history in assists with nine more dimes.

-- GENERALS --