LEXINGTON, Va.  After a 12–day holiday hiatus, the Methodist men's basketball team took the court at the Washington and Lee Holiday Tournament on Sunday in a matchup with the host Generals. The Monarchs fell behind in the first half and were unable to recapture the lead, granting Washington and Lee just its second victory of the season.

JUST THE FACTS
Final score: Washington and Lee def. Methodist, 74–66
Records: Methodist 4-6, Washington and Lee 2–7
Location: Holekamp Gym; Lexington, Va.

HOW IT HAPPENED

• The teams traded three–pointers to begin the contest, with David McCallum Jr. sinking Methodist's first shot from deep. The Monarchs took advantage of the free–throw line early, with Zac Sledge drilling two to tie the game at 7–7 and Brian Bullock giving Methodist an 11–10 lead after draining a pair just over five minutes in.
• The Generals quickly pieced together an 11–0 run to go ahead 23–13 and grew their lead to as many as 13 points with 7:39 in the half. A layup by Tomas Stevens with 18 seconds left in the period capped off a six–point run for Methodist and closed the gap to six points, but Washington and Lee tacked on one more free throw before the break to make the halftime score 35–28.
• Derrion Hicklen cut his team's deficit to four points with a make from behind the arc on the first possession of the second half. However, a 15–4 run in favor of the Generals put Washington and Lee ahead by 15 for its largest lead of the game.
• The Monarchs spent the final 10 minutes of the game slowly chipping away at the Generals' lead and reduced the difference down to five points with 56 seconds to go, but the home team was nearly perfect from the charity stripe during the final two minutes, closing out the contest with 11 makes on 12 attempts to solidify the result.   

MORE TO IT

• The Monarchs actually made more shots from the field (24) than the Generals (22), and drained seven three–points to Washington and Lee's six. The striking difference came at the free–throw line, where the Generals went 24–for–35 while the Monarchs went 11–for–19.
• Derrion Hicklen led the team with 19 points while bringing down five rebounds (tied with Zac Sledge for the team high).
• For the Generals, AJ Thomas posted a career–high 26 points, earning 16 of those points at the free–throw line.

UP NEXT
Methodist is back in action at the Washington and Lee Christmas Tournament on Monday, taking on Centre College in the consolation game at 2 p.m. Centre was defeated by Piedmont University on Sunday by a score of 82–76.