FREDERICK, Md. – Two 20-point efforts helped propel the Hood College men's basketball team past Vassar College 84-71 in the first round of the NCAA Division III Tournament, marking the first win in the national tournament in program history.
Inside the Box Score
Karron Mallory (Manchester, Pa./Northeastern) led the Blazers with 25 points, shooting 75 percent from the floor and 6-9 from three-point range.
Kullen Robinson (Alexandria, Va./Alexandria City) finished with 20 points on 10-15 field goal shooting.
Jevon Yarbrough (Hagerstown, Md./Williamsport) earned his sixth double-double of the season with 19 points and 12 assists.
Garrett Cox (Glen Allen, VA/Glen Allen) had 14 blocks in the game.
How it Happened
Mallory got Woodsboro Bank Arena jumping early, sinking a three-pointer 20 seconds into the game. Vassar would respond quickly though, going on a 12-2 run to put the Blazers in a three-possession hole.
The Brewers kept their foot on the gas, responding to a
Jude Huseby (Frederick, Md./Urbana) layup with a three-pointer before answering a Yarbrough jumper with one of their own to keep Hood's deficit to eight points at 17-9 with just under 12 minutes in the first half.
For the next several minutes, it became the Mallory show, as the junior drained three straight shots from beyond the arc before driving all the way around the defense to cut Vassar's lead to 24-22 with 7:32 remaining.
Although the Brewers managed to recompose themselves and rattle off back-to-back baskets, the Blazers remembered who they were, exploding for a nine-point run and their first lead since the start of the game at 31-28 with just over two minutes to play.
Vassar did score the next four points in the contest to retake the lead by a point, but Hood scored five points in less than a minute, capped off by another three-pointer from Mallory to head into the halftime break ahead 36-32.
The momentum the Blazers had built up at the end of the first half clearly carried over to the start of the second, as they got the home crowd jumping with a 12-0 run in the first 2:30 to push the lead to 48-32.
A basket from Nathan Denham got the Brewers on the board in the second half, and they were even able to get Hood's lead down to 10 points before layups from Robinson and Yarbrough restored its sizable advantage. With 12 minutes in the game though, the Brewers began to cut into the Blazers' 60-47 lead thanks to Kas Mirza and Shea Fitzgerald combining to go on a 10-3 run and make it a two-possession game with Hood ahead 63-57.
Fortunately, that would be as close as Vassar got to tying things up, as the Blazers caught fire to go on a 12-0 run and push the lead to 18 points. That lead would get up to 19 points at its height as Robinson hit back-to-back layups for an 82-63 advantage that essentially iced the game with 1:39 remaining, and Hood would hold on for an 84-71 win.
"Really proud of the guys getting over the hump tonight. Huge win for the program", said head coach
Chad Dickman. Thought we had some jitters early and weren't executing well, and they made us pay… We enjoyed that win for about 20 minutes. We have bigger goals, but tomorrow is going to be a tall task versus Redlands because they are definitely not a team you can prepare for in 20 hours. We'll do our best and let the chips fall where they may."
For the Opponent
Fitzgerald and Mirza both scored 21 points each.
Denham finished the game with 10 points and led the Brewers with nine rebounds.
Analysis
The Blazers shot 49 percent from the field and 25 percent from three-point range, while the Brewers shot 39 percent from the field, but 41 percent from beyond the arc.
Hood outrebounded Vassar 41-35.
The Brewers' bench outscored the Blazers' 26-2.
Notes
In the first Round of 64 game of the day, University of Redlands defeated Susquehanna 96-71.
Up Next
Hood turns around and plays the Bulldogs of No. 9 University of Redlands in the NCAA Division III Round of 32 in Woodsboro Bank Arena Saturday, March 7 at 5:35 p.m.
