Roanoke College pulled away from the Eastern Mennonite University men's basketball team midway through the second half as the Maroons claimed an important 84-63 conference win over the Royals Saturday evening in Harrisonburg, Va.

The win puts Roanoke at 17-6 overall and 9-5 in the Old Dominion Athletic Conference, a full game ahead of the Royals.

EMU drops to 14-9 on the season, 8-6 in the ODAC. The Royals now sit in fifth place in the conference, a game back of Roanoke and Bridgewater College. The top four teams in the conference receive a "bye" during the first round of the ODAC Tournament, essentially a play-in round.

Curtis Peery led all scorers with 24 points on 9-of-13 shooting from the field. William Sheppard had 14 points off the bench while Parrish Walker tallied 13 points and four rebounds in the win.

EMU was led by sophomore guard George Johnson (Richmond, Va./Miller School) who poured in 21 points. Sophomore wing Todd Phillips (Waynesboro, Va./Waynesboro) had 10 points, 10 rebounds, four blocks, and three steals for EMU in the loss.

The Royals trailed for most of the first half but never let the Maroons out of sight. A 17-11 lead by Roanoke College was answered with a long ball by sophomore wing D.J. Hinson (Newport News, Va./Menchville), cutting the RC lead in half (17-14, 10:06). Roanoke used their presence in the middle, specifically Peery, to build a eight-point lead with just over seven minutes remaining.

Roanoke continued to swarm the paint but several attempts were swatted away by Phillips and Hinson. A key stuff by Phillips helped to keep the Maroons from taking a double figure lead. Following two free throw shots by Johnson, Roanoke added one last point from the charity stripe to take a 37-30 lead into the locker room.

Peery had 12 of his 24 points in the first half.

In the second half the Royals subpar shooting finally got the best of them as Roanoke was able to build a 10-point cushion with 13:51 on the clock. The Maroons quickly went up by 16 as Peery and Zach Milton contributed to the Maroon attack.

EMU shot only 27 percent from the floor for the game (18-of-67) compared to 50 percent for Roanoke (30-of-60).

The Royals will look to get back into one of the top four spots in the ODAC next week as they travel to Bridgewater, Va., on Wednesday, February 18, for a 7 p.m., game with the Eagles.