Rebounding from Wednesday's loss, the Runnin Royals found their offense.  Unfortunately, they couldn't stop Calvin Croskey, who hit his eighth three pointer of the day at the buzzer to give Randolph-Macon an 87-86 win over EMU.

Eastern Mennonite and R-MC have had their share of intense games over the past couple of seasons, but this year was different as both squads were replacing all or nearly all of their starting lineups.  The Yellow Jackets scored first in the meeting in Ashland, but the Runnin Royals regrouped quickly and zipped to a 17-9 lead after an R.J. Sims (Fort Washington, MD/Friendly) layup.

R-MC got within two points before the men unleashed a 10-0 run over a span of 1:41 to go up 30-18 with 9:51 left in the first half.  EMU led by as many as 14 before Croskey hit his third triple of the half to trim the edge to 48-37 at halftime.  Sims had 11 at the break.

The Royals labored to keep the lead in the second, as the home team finally tied the score with 9:44 left.  Randolph-Macon took its first lead since early in the game on a three pointer with 4:17 to go, making it 73-70.

The young Runnin Royals showed grit on the visitors' floor, fighting back and getting a big three from Adam Burroughs (Roanoke, VA/Northside) to skip back in front 81-79 with 1:30 left.

Croskey drained his seventh long bomb after an offensive rebound to put R-MC back in front with 26 ticks left at 84-83.  Burroughs missed a jumper for EMU, but Andrew Thorne (Front Royal, VA/Skyline) got inside for an offensive putback with 12 seconds remaining.

After a Yellow Jacket turnover, Sims hit just one of two free throws with eight seconds to go, leaving the lead at two and setting up for the dramatic finish by Croskey.

The Royals shot 53% from the floor in the game, including 7-12 from long range.  R-MC was just as good, hitting 54% overall and 10-19 from outside, led by Croskey going 8-9.  He finished with a game high 30 points.

EMU had a 33-26 edge in rebounds and were 27-38 from the free throw line.  The Yellow Jackets were 15-22 from the stripe.

Sims led six men in double figures with 20 points.  David Falk (Madison, VA/Madison) finished 8-11 from the charity stripe and had a career high 16 points.

Thorne came in with 10 points and a game high nine rebounds.  The rest of the starting five all passed 10 with Owen Longacre (Telford, PA/Christopher Dock) scoring 13, Burroughs hitting 12 and Dajon Daniel (Fredericksburg, VA/Mountain View) putting in 11.

Despite the good recovery from Wednesday's 108-65 loss at Hampden-Sydney, the men came up one play short and fall to 2-4 overall and 1-2 in the ODAC.  The Runnin Royals step out of the conference for their next five games, starting with a road game at Ferrum on Monday.