The Eastern Mennonite University men's basketball team swept the season series with Virginia Wesleyan College following a 70-63 triumph over the Marlins Saturday afternoon.

EMU improves to 14-7 overall on the season and 8-4 in the Old Dominion Athletic Conference. Virginia Wesleyan falls to 12-10 on the sesaon, 6-7 in the ODAC.

Sophomore wing Todd Phillips (Waynesboro, Va./Waynesboro) tied a career-high with 18 points to go along with five rebounds and three blocks.

Sophomore Orie Pancione (Augusta, WVa./Hampshire) recorded his second double-double of the season with 10 points and a career-high 14 rebounds. D.J. Hinson (Newport News, Va./Menchville) had 15 points and three steals for EMU in the win.

The Marlins were led by the efforts of Donald Vaughn who led all scorers with 20 points on 9-of-14 shooting from the floor. Travis Meyers and Terrell Dixon each had 14 points for VWC.

EMU, which had beaten Virginia Wesleyan for the first time since 2004 earlier this season, came out firing in their second match-up. Following an opening bucket from Vaughn, the Royals poured on five unanswered points on a Hinson jumper and a long ball from George Johnson (Richmond, Va./Miller School). VWC answered the Johnson three with a 5-0 swing of their own, tying the contest at seven all. Another run by the visiting team, this time nine points, put the Royals up 16-7 with 11:47 left in the first.

The Royals' lead stayed steady at around seven points before Travis Meyers lit up the Batten Center with three straight three-pointers, making the score 28-26, EMU. A jumper by Phillips was answered by a bucket from Vaughn as the two teams exchanged baskets until there was only 2:28 left in the frame. At that point the Royals were able to build an eight-point edge heading into the locker room as back-to-back jumpers from Josh Mallory (Round Hill, Va./Loudoun Valley) and Austin Twine (Dublin, Va./Pulaski Co.) and a three from Hinson put the score at 39-31.

Phillips had 11 points in the first half.

Meyers chipped in 11 points on 3-of-3 shooting from behind the arc.

The Royals shot 56 percent from the floor in the first half (18-of-32) compared to only 40 percent (11-of-27) from the Marlins.

The EMU lead hovered around eight points for most of the second half. Virginia Wesleyan siezed an opportunity to get back in the ball game with just under eight minutes left. After a Phillips three made the score 53-44, Dixon ignited a 10-0 swing for the Marlins to give the home team its first lead since the first minute of the game. A pair of free throws swung the one-point margin back towards the visiting team as EMU again went back up by eight points as jumpers from Twine and Hinson and a three from Johnson contributed to the offensive swing.

Virginia Wesleyan continued to battle throughout the remainder of the game, closing to only four of tying the contest with 38 ticks left. EMU hit 1-of-2 free throw attempts and then Hinson put the game out of reach with a slam dunk, giving the home team a seven-point deficit to climb out of with only five seconds remaining.

Johnson ended the contest with 11 points and four rebounds. Twine had seven points.

EMU will put their four-game winning streak on the line next week when they host the Quakers of Guilford College on Wednesday, February 11, for a 7 p.m., game in Yoder Arena.