With an 18-point lead and a bit less than five minutes remaining, the Randolph-Macon men looked like they would cruise to an easy season-opening victory against visiting Christopher Newport last Tuesday night.

  With six seconds left and the game tied, it looked like the Yellow Jackets might have blown it.

  But sophomore forward Andre Simon slipped underneath the Captains’ defense and scored an easy layup with one second left to seal a 90-88 victory and send the home crowd out of Crenshaw Gymnasium happy.

  “We wanted to make sure everyone stayed in the gym,” said Randolph-Macon coach Nathan Davis. “Christopher Newport [Coach John Krikorian] does a great job with them. They work very hard. They play really hard. Their play reflects him and his toughness. … We knew it was going to be a fight to the end.”

  The Yellow Jackets found in Christopher Newport an opponent that was equally scrappy – and in some respects, equally sloppy – as they were. The Captains had 19 turnovers to 17 for Randolph-Macon. Christopher Newport accumulated 23 personal fouls compared to 30 for the Yellow Jackets.

  The mistakes were evidence of youth and determination. Christopher Newport has four seniors on its 20-man roster. Randolph-Macon, with 15 players, has just two seniors.

  “In a game like this there’s going to be a lot of possessions,” Davis said. “It’s the first game of the season and you’re not going to be as crisp as you want to be, even when you’re playing a little slower.”

  Simon came off the bench to score a game-high 28 points and 11 rebounds in 28 minutes of playing time.

  “I just had to go out there and play hard,” Simon said. “We knew we should have had the game in our hands. We just had to take care of the ball, just try to keep our composure and try to keep the lead up as much as possible.”

  In the first half, the two teams traded leads 10 times and tied five times. The biggest lead was a six-point advantage for the Yellow Jackets, 28-22, with 7:39 left in the half. But the lead switched twice more before Randolph-Macon entered intermission up 41-38.

  In the second half, however, the Yellow Jackets assumed solid control until their high-water mark with an 85-67 lead with 4:51 left in the game. Fouls, turnovers, and a dogged comeback effort from the Captains eroded Randolph-Macon’s advantage.

  “We’ve got a pretty spirited group and we’ve got some energy,” Krikorian said. “I thought our effort, for the most part, was good, though I think it was much better when we were down and spotted them a 15-point lead.”

  Krikorian said the balance of mistakes doomed Christopher Newport’s chances.

  “We just didn’t execute well enough on either end of the floor. We made too many mistakes,” Krikorian said. “Randolph-Macon is just too good. … It seemed like every time we made a mistake, they made us pay.”

  But the Yellow Jackets made their share of mistakes, too, and it almost cost them the game.

  “We got up 18, and I don’t think we stopped them one time – until one second left we finally got a stop where they came away with no points,” Davis said. “That was a big thing. If we put together a string at any point where we got two or three stops, it would have been a different game down the stretch.”

  Christopher Newport tied the game, 88-88, on a 3-point shot by Conley Taylor. The Yellow Jackets quickly marched down the floor, but Calvin Croskey’s go-ahead shot with three seconds left missed. In the scrum for the rebound, the Captains knocked the ball out of bounds.

  The game would be decided on the inbound pass.

  “We set a screen for the guards in the zone,” Simon said. “I was able to slip through. When [the ball] went in, it felt good.”

  Three other Yellow Jackets scored in double figures: Croskey with 16 points, and Adam Desgain with 15 points and Lamar Giggetts with 13.

  Christopher Newport was led by Taylor with 18 points, Tra Benefield with 15, Mike Cherry with 12, and Jon Snead with 11.
 
CHRISTOPHER NEWPORT (0-1) — Benefield 15, Taylor 18, Meredith 5, Atangana 6, Farris 2, Watson 0, Cherry 12, Snead 11, Ballam 0, Cooper 9, Biberaj 3, Granger 2, Freedman 1, Clarkson 4, Youngman 0. Totals — 28 24-35 88.

RANDOLPH-MACON (1-0) — Badger 4, Croskey 16, Desgain 15, Giggetts 12, Cole 4, Robinson 8, Sullivan 0, Walker 0, Simon 28, Jackson 1, Holmes 2. Totals — 33 19-31 90.

Halftime — R-MC 41-38.
3-point geals — CNU: Cherry 2, Snead 2, Benefield, Taylor, Atangana, Cooper. R-MC: Croskey 3, Desgain 2.