Men’s basketball doubles win total

Photo by Josiah Garber

Non-traditional freshman Jason Sager averaged 16.5 points and 8.8 rebounds a game for the 6-19 Royals.

Finishing their season off on a high note, the men’s basketball team defeated Roanoke College in overtime 82-75, in an away game on Tuesday.

Freshman Jason Sager led the Royals with 29 points, tying his career high, and 13 rebounds. Fellow freshman Jason Lentz added ten rebounds and four points. Other leading scorers for the Royals were Mike Culen with 16 points and Jeremy Newman with 15 points. Roanoke outscored the Royals in the first half, but coming out of halftime EMU rallied to take the game to overtime. EMU out-rebounded R.C. in both offensive and defensive rebounds. The Tuesday evening win brought the team’s overall record to 6-19, up from last year’s record of 3-21 overall.

Tuesday’s season-ending victory followed a tight, Valentine’s Day loss to ODAC opponent, Washington and Lee. Sager was the top-scorer of the game with 22 points and 12 rebounds. E.J. Arrington contributed 17 points and five rebounds. Newman also scored in the double digits with ten points, with freshman Kendal Swartzentruber and senior Nat Franklin each adding five points. Though EMU outscored W&L 34-29 during the first half, they were not able to retain that lead after halftime. The final score was 76-69, favoring Washington and Lee.

Despite not making the ODAC tournament this season, the team made considerable improvements from last year. Coach Dean’s up-tempo promises from the pre-season held true. The Royals were fourth in the ODAC at 76.2 points a game. Sager was third on the conference scoring list. His 16.5 points a game were bested by Emory & Henry College’s Justin Call and Bridgewater College’s Ricky Easterling. Call’s 24.4 points per game average is eighth in Division III. Easterling scored at a 19.0 average.

Sager is the frontrunner to win the ODAC Freshman of the Year Award. He lead the ODAC with 8.8 rebounds a game and added just under three assists a game. Arrington was the 2001-2002 Freshman of the Year.

Only two seniors on the team averaged more than 15 minutes a game. Freshmen JoMorrae Gordon, Kendal Swartzendruber, and Chris Ropp, and Stuart Leake saw more than 10 minutes of play a game.