It was Senior Day at the Voller Athletic Center Saturday afternoon and the #1 team in the country was in town for the Raiders last scheduled home game of the season. Walsh University came into Saturday's contest 26-0. The last time they lost a game was a season ago in the National Championship game in Branson, Missouri against the University of St. Francis. Roberts started their five seniors,
Curt Despard,
Jake Russell,
Dan Foley,
Rashaad Stokelin, and
Justin Andreozzi. The atmosphere in the VAC was electric as the Raiders extended their current winning streak to six in a row and eight out of their last nine. The Raiders were both intense and efficient answering every push the Cavaliers made throughout the game.
Kenny Kornowski hit a layup for the Cavaliers at the 15:44 mark of the first half to put Walsh ahead 6-4.
Curt Despard tied the game twenty seconds later with a bucket in the paint.
Alif Bland entered the game after the first media timeout and immediately hammered home a monster dunk for an 8-6 lead at the 14:49 mark . Roberts never trailed again. A
Jordan Heath three point basket with 3:03 remaining in the first half provided Roberts an 8 point lead, their largest in the first half. Walsh answered with an Eric Schiele three and a Terrance Saintil layup, but a
Dan Foley tip in sent the Raiders into intermission with a 30-25 half time lead.
Back to back Bland buckets opened up the second half and a nine point Raider lead. Walsh continued to fight back cutting the Raider lead to one possession on four separate occassions. Up two points with just under three minutes to play,
Rashaad Stokelin set up
Alif Bland for a dunk to put Roberts up by four. Lamar Skeeter was fouled but missed the front end of a one and one and on the ensuing possession Stokelin set up
Dan Foley for a three pointer from the left corner to put the Raiders up seven with 2:30 to play. Saintil got the Cavaliers close one more time with a put back off his own miss cutting the Raider lead to three with 1:40 remaining.
Rashaad Stokelin then closed out the scoring for the Raiders going 4-4 from the free throw line and finishing with a breakaway layup for the 72-63 memorable victory.
Walsh came into the contest averaging 95 points a game and shooting 52% from the floor. Their average margin of victory for the year had been 29 points a game. The Raiders held Walsh to 37% shooting while shooting 47% from the floor themselves. The victory helps erase a thirty-five point loss the Raiders suffered to the Cavaliers back in early January in Canton, Ohio.
The Raiders were led by
Alif Bland who finished with 21 points on 10-11 shooting.
Jordan Heath scored 15 points and had 6 rebounds.
Rashaad Stokelin scored 13 points and distshed out 7 assists while
Dan Foley continued to fill the stat sheet with 13 points, 9 rebounds and 9 assists.
Justin Andreozzi once again locked down one of the best players in the AMC containing point guard, Jeremy Shardo, to a 3-17 night shooting and 2 assists. Terrance Saintil finished with 19 points and 13 rebounds for the Cavaliers.
After starting 1-5 the Raiders have gone 8-1 over their last nine conference games to jump up to fourth place in the American Mideast Conference, just one game behind Malone and Cedarville University.
The Raiders now sit at 15-11 overall and will finish their regular season on the road next week. Roberts will be at Daemen on Tuesday at 7:30, at Houghton on Thursday at 6:00, and at Wilberforce for a 4:00 afternoon contest on Saturday.
