Senior guard Jered Lyons (Takoma Park, Md./St. Johns at Prospect Hall) had a career high 22 points as the Eastern Mennonite University men's basketball team came back from a 10 point deficit at halftime to beat Randolph College 57-53 Wednesday night in Lynchburg, Va.

"We just struggled to shoot the ball, plain and simple," explained EMU head coach Kirby Dean following the win. "We shot only 31 percent from the field in the game, you can't do that and expect to win, but somehow we did. The guys played hard, but we just couldn't find a rythem offensively when we had the ball."

EMU scored only 20 points in the first half, their lowest total this season to start off a game, and ended up shooting just 18 percent (6-of-32) from the field. Randolph shot 50 percent (11-for-22) and went into halftime with a 30-20 lead. Pete Hamilton led the team with eight points while Tim Clarke had another seven points off the bench for the WildCats.

Senior Brad Parkes (Winchester, Va./James Wood) was the high scorer for EMU in the half with eight points to go along with five rebounds.

Randolph continued to pour on the offense in the second half as the home team went up by 14 points with 15:37 on the clock. A layup by freshman D.J. Hinson (Virginia Beach, Va./Menchville) dropped the WildCat lead to 12 as the Royals began to slowly chip away at the deficit. Parkes added a layup and then Lyons began his assault on the basket as he dropped three straight three-pointers, giving the WildCats a slim one point advantage.

Randolph did not let the game slip away as a couple of free throw shots by Hamilton and a layup by Aurimas Lekavicius moved the margin back up to five points. Lyons and Parkes again gave the Royals the offense they needed as another basket from behind the arc from Lyons and a jumper by Parkes tied the game. EMU took the lead for good with just over a minute to play as a fast break lead to a Parkes layup and a two point lead. Randolph forced the Royals to the free throw line where freshman Todd Phillips (Waynesboro, Va./Waynesboro) drained both attempts and helped seal the win for EMU.

Parkes had 19 points and 12 rebounds for his second double double this season. Senior Corey Bailey (Centreville, Va./Brentsville District) had five points and seven rebounds in the win.

EMU has the rest of the week off and will get ready to play cross town rival Bridgewater College on Saturday, December 15, at 7 p.m.