Roanoke Wins ODAC Championship

THE GAME FACTS
Score: (No. 25) Roanoke 59, (No. 1) Randolph-Macon 58
Location: Salem, Va. – Salem Civic Center

The Short Story
Trailing by six points with 38 seconds remaining, the Roanoke College men's basketball team rallied to defeat the No. 1 team in the nation, Randolph-Macon College, 59-58 in the Championship Game of the 2025-26 Old Dominion Athletic Conference (ODAC) Tournament.
It is the Maroons 11th title overall in program history and first since the 1999-2000 season.
The Yellow Jackets led 58-52 with 38 seconds left and Marcus Morgan (6'3''-G) made the first of two free throws and missed the second. Gavin O'Malley (6'5''-F) grabbed the rebound and fed a cutting Ryan Truitt (6'1''-G) for a layup and make it a one-possession game. R-MC missed the front end of a 1-and-1 but Caleb Franze (5'9''-G) did not miss either of his two attempts from the charity stripe to cut it to 58-57 with 22 seconds on the clock. After the Yellow Jackets missed again on the first end of a 1-and-1, Jackson Bell (6'4''-G) banked in a running jumper in traffic with 8.1 seconds left. The Maroon defense forced a tough shot on the defensive end and Morgan grabbed the rebound to clinch the title.

How It Happened
The contest was tied 7-7 and an 8-3 run gave Roanoke a 15-10 lead at the 10:48 mark.
After a Yellow Jacket three-pointer at the 9:43 mark, the Maroon defense held R-MC scoreless in a 10-0 run to take a 27-13 lead with less than two minutes left in the half.
Roanoke led 28-16 at intermission, forcing R-MC into 27.3 percent shooting overall (6-22) and 14.3 from three-point range (2-14).
The Yellow Jackets came out firing in the second half, hitting six three-pointers in the first 10 minutes to take a 39-38 lead.

Inside the Numbers
Bell was named the Tournament MVP and scored 12 points in the title game.
Morgan and Franze joined Bell on the All-Tournament Team. Franze scored a team-high 14 points while Morgan had 10 points and 10 rebounds.
O'Malley finished with 10 points and seven rebounds and Ryan Truitt scored eight.
Keishawn Pulley (6'2''-G), Jr. and Jabril Robinson (6'1''-G) each scored 15 points for Randolph-Macon (25-3).

The Maroons advance into the NCAA Tournament for the second-straight season, earning the ODAC's automatic bid. The NCAA Division III selection show is set for Monday at 1 p.m., where Roanoke will find out who, when and where they will play next weekend. That will also be confirmation for any ODAC teams that earn an at-large bid from their position in the NCAA Power Index (NPI) once all the automatic qualifiers are known.

ODAC Final:
Randolph-Macon - Roanoke 58-59

ODAC Semifinals:
Randolph-Macon - Hampden-Sydney 69-41
Virginia Wesleyan - Roanoke 69-78

ODAC Quarterfinals:
Randolph-Macon - Guilford 94-73
Virginia Wesleyan - Averett 71-65
Roanoke - Washington and Lee 92-68
Hampden-Sydney - Lynchburg 82-70

Courtesy of odaconline.com