Virginia Wesleyan scored 18 second chance points in route to a 78-68 Old Dominion Athletic Conference win over the Eastern Mennonite University men's basketball team Wednesday night in Harrisonburg, Va.

The Marlins, who were led by 26 points and 12 rebounds from Tyler Fantin, improve to 18-5 overall and 12-4 in the ODAC with the Royals falling to 8-13 overall and 4-10 in the conference.

VWC out rebounded EMU 45-32 with a 26-14 margin in rebounds in the second half. Norman Hassell had 10 points and seven rebounds for Virginia Wesleyan with D'Juan Tucker adding 16 points for the Marlins.

EMU was led by freshman guard George Johnson (Richmond, Va./Miller School) who had 17 points and three assists while senior guard Jered Lyons (Takoma Park, Md./St. Johns at Prospect Hall) had 13 points off the bench.

"If we were able to rebound in the second half we give ourselves a chance," explained EMU head coach Kirby Dean. "It we are able to get some of those second chance boards and keep them from getting the easy follow-up bucket we would've been right there at the end."

The Royals held an early three point advantage (17:19 on clock) with Johnson breaking the tie with a trey from the top of the arc. The deficit quickly swung the other way as the Marlins were able to ride the hot shooting of Tucker to take a three and eventually four point lead with 15:50 remaining. EMU tied the game at 12 before the visiting Marlins pulled away for an eight point lead with just over eight minutes left.

A 7-0 run started by another three pointer from Johnson and a layup from senior forward Brad Parkes (Winchester, Va./James Wood) helped to give the Royals a slight edge towards the closing minutes of the half. The Marlins used their strong presence on the glass to reclaim the lead as the teams headed into halftime with the Royals down one (37-36).

The second half mirrored the final 10 minutes of the first with Virginia Wesleyan scoring 16 points in the paint with 14 of which coming off of second chance shots. Eastern Mennonite stayed close as the Royals found themselves down by only three with 10:29 left. A 9-0 quickly changed that as the home team fell to 14 points from the lead with Virginia Wesleyan holding on for the win.

Tonton Balenga had 12 points, five rebounds, and a pair of assists for VWC.

Parkes finished with 12 points and eight boards for EMU with senior center Corey Bailey (Centreville, Va./Brentsville District) going a perfect 3-for-3 for six points along with five rebounds in the loss.

The Royals will now travel south and take on the Wasps of Emory & Henry College on Saturday, February 16, at 7 p.m., followed by another conference game on Sunday, February 17, with EMU traveling to Greensboro, N.C., to battle the Quakers of Guilford College.