For immediate release – 2/7/2015 - #241
Hornets Stumble in Second-Half and fall to the Royals 59-57

LYNCHBURG, VA – The Lynchburg College men's basketball was outscored in the second half by 12 points by visiting Eastern Mennonite University, as the Hornets lost 59-57 in Old Dominion Athletic Conference (ODAC) play on Saturday.

The two teams went back and forth for most of the first half.  LC took an early four-point lead after a pair of Lyndon White free throws at the 14:29 mark.  An EMU layup followed to cut the lead to two, but Zack Burnett and Alex Graves combined for three points to put the Hornets up 11-6 with 10:52 remaining.

The Royals went on their first run of the game, as four different members scored over the next 1:49 to give Eastern Mennonite the 15-11 advantage.  Immediately after falling back by four, the Hornets retook the momentum off the junior connection of Austen Arnold to Graves for a layup.  LC then hit two three-point field goals, one by Sammy Hooper and the other from Burnett, to go up 19-15.

EMU came back once again and scored two baskets, including a David Falk dunk, which were sandwiched around a layup from Omar Kemp.  With the score at 21-19, Burnett hit his second three of the half, and Daniel Rowe followed with his own three to put Lynchburg up 27-19.  Arnold made a layup with 51 seconds on the clock to give LC the 10-point advantage going into the intermission.

Eastern Mennonite controlled the beginning of the second half, scoring 12 straight over the first four minutes before Arnold and Kemp each made a pair from the line to retake the lead by two.  Once again, the Royals went on another run, highlighted by seven points from Falk, which sent the lead to 11 points for EMU.

Arnold then scored four in a row, and was followed by another three from Rowe, which cut the disadvantage to four.  James Williams then scored nine straight to put the lead all the way up to 13.  The Hornets fought back but the clock ran out on them as they fell by two.

Williams led the Royals (14-7 overall, 7-5 ODAC) with 17 points, and Falk notched a double-double with 11 points and a game-high 13 rebounds.  Arnold had a game-high 20 points in the loss.

Lynchburg (12-9, 5-7) will be back in action this week on Wednesday.  The Hornets will make the trek across town to Randolph College for an important ODAC tilt.  Tip-off is scheduled for 7 p.m.

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