For immediate release – 2/20/2016 - #297
Lynchburg Men Tie for League Lead with 80-75 win over VWC -Earn #1 Seed in ODAC Tourney

LYNCHBURG, VA – The Lynchburg College men's basketball team forced a tie atop the Old Dominion Athletic Conference (ODAC) standings with an 80-75 victory over visiting Virginia Wesleyan College Saturday afternoon.

The Hornets and Marlins tie with identical 12-4 ODAC marks and each team has a victory over the other. The conference tiebreaker determined LC as the #1 seed for the upcoming conference tournament next weekend. The Hornets will face the winner of the #8 Hampden-Sydney/#9 Bridgewater first round matchup on Friday at 1 p.m. 

Senior Alex Graves paced the Hornets with 23 points, five rebounds and four blocks. Austen Arnold tallied 17 points and a game-high 10 rebounds while Zack Burnett had 14 points. Jay Allen made 6-of-7 shots for 13 points.

Tim Jones netted a game-high 29 points for Virginia Wesleyan (17-8) along with eight rebounds. Khory Moore posted 20 points and seven caroms.

Va. Wesleyan led by as many as 12 in the first half, and held a 36-26 lead with 5:19 remaining before halftime. LC trimmed the lead to just one, 41-40, by intermission.

After scoring the first basket of the second half, Lynchburg held an advantage the rest of the game. The Hornets had a 78-75 edge with under 15 seconds to play, the Marlins missed a game-tying three pointer and Burnett cleared the rebound. The junior was fouled with six seconds left and made both free throws to ice the game. The Marlins shot 47 percent from three-point range (8-17) in the game's first 20 minutes, while hitting only 28 (5-18) after halftime.  

Lynchburg's (19-6) 19 wins ties a program record for the most in program history since the mid-70s.

The 2016 ODAC Championship Tournament is a single-elimination affair, with the quarterfinals, semifinals and finals held at the Salem Civic Center next Friday through Sunday. Complete ODAC Tournament Website

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