Four Eastern Mennonite University men's basketball players scored in double figures as the Royals gained a 85-73 road win over Washington & Lee University as both squads head into the Old Dominion Athletic Conference Tournament next week.

The Royals, who have clinched the #5 seed in the conference, end the 2008-09 regular season with a 15-10 overall record and a 9-7 mark in the ODAC. The 15 wins are the second most in the programs history and is only one shy of the 1997-98 squad which finished with a 16-9 mark.

Washington & Lee falls to 13-12, 6-10 in the conference.

Sophomore wing D.J. Hinson (Newport News, Va./Menchville) had a team leading 18 points on 6-of-12 shooting from the field. Devon McRae (Altavista, Va./Altavista) and Orie Pancione (Augusta, WVa./Hampshire) each had 12 points for EMU while senior wing LeRoger Parrish (Danville, Va./Tunstall) notched 13 points and was 3-of-5 from behind the arc.

Washington & Lee was paced by Ben Goetsch who poured in 14 points off the bench. Craig Sauers scored 10 points while Kirk Jones had nine points and six boards.

The Royals trailed early in the contest as a layup by Ryan Owens put the home team up by two to start the game. Washington & Lee continued to maintain a small advantage over the visiting Royals as a long ball from Chris McHugh put the Generals up eight (10-2) with 16:28 left in the first. The EMU offense finally began to click into high gear as the Royals went on an 8-0 run to tie the game up at 10 all. Following another basket by Owens, junior guard Austin Twine (Dublin, Va./Pulaski Co.) hit both attempts from the charity stripe to tie it up again at 12. EMU then took the lead for good on a Hinson layp with the visiting teams margin growing to nine as the first half came to an end.

Hinson led the team with 11 points in the first half while McRae had 10 points off the bench.

EMU seemingly put the game on ice in the second half as a nine point cushion ballooned to a 25-point lead as senior center Chancelor Fitzgerald (Chatham, Va./Chatham) gave the Royals their biggest lead of the game on a turnaround jumper from just outside the paint (15:09). The Royals' double digit lead slowly began to dwindle towards the end of the second half as the Generals moved to only nine of tying the game as a Jason Ciminio layup made the score 80-71 (33 seconds left). Washington & Lee put sophomore guard George Johnson (Richmond, Va./Miller School) on the line in an attempt to get the ball back and inch closer to the EMU lead. Johnson calmly hit both attempts with EMU as a team nailing 5-of-6 from the free throw line in the final minute to seal the win.

Johnson finished with 11 points. Twine had seven points and five rebounds.

The Royals will now play the Eagles of Bridgewater College on Friday, February 27, at 3 p.m., during the first round of the ODAC Tournament in Salem, Va., at the Salem Civic Center.