Lynchburg Va. -- The Hornets fell to the Roanoke 79-80, in a contest with 13 lead changes, six ties, and a buzzer-beater.
Michael Gray continued his recent hot streak, tabbing a team-high 19 points. Freshman forward Jamarcus Brown finished with 17 points, shooting six-for-nine from the floor and two-for-three from deep.
The Hornets came out with stout and physical defense from the tip. Lynchburg held the Maroons to nine points in the opening twelve minutes, this helped the Hornets claim an early 10-point advantage. Nonetheless, Roanoke reclaimed momentum and catapulted themselves back out in front, taking a three-point lead into the intermission.
In the second half, both teams began to trade punches. Lynchburg and Roanoke traded the lead back-and-forth for the first 15 minutes. When the Hornets claimed the lead with five minutes to go, they began to string together stops on the defensive end. As a result, Lynchburg's lead quickly ballooned to 11 points with 45.6 seconds remaining.
But the Maroons refused to go away. Roanoke continued to fight and cut the lead to four with 20 seconds left. Then with 12 seconds, it was two. With six seconds remaining, trailing by two, the Maroons went the length of the court, dished it to sophomore guard Jackson Bell, and buried a game-winning three.
The Hornets drop their second consecutive home game and fall to 9-6 on the season. Lynchburg will be back in action this Saturday, Jan 18, in Virginia Beach as they take on the Virginia Weslyan Marlins.
Visit Lynchburg athletics' home online,
LynchburgSports.com, anytime for up-to-the-minute news on all Hornets sports and coverage from the
Lynchburg Hornets Sports Network.
Sign up
here to receive Lynchburg Sports news in your email inbox.
Give Lynchburg Sports a like on
Facebook, and follow Lynchburg athletics on
Instagram,
Threads, and
X.
--LYN--
