Nov. 15, 2009
NORFOLK, Va. - The Old Dominion men's basketball team opened the 2009-10 season in dominant fashion with a 69-38 win over Bethune-Cookman Sunday afternoon at the Ted Constant Convocation Center. The Monarchs filled the box score with seven or more points from seven different players and every ODU player scoring at least one bucket from the field.
Senior Gerald Lee and redshirt sophomore Kent Bazemore each scored 10 points to pace Old Dominion's offensive attack. Junior Ben Finney finished just one point and one rebound shy of a double-double.
The Monarchs controlled the boards 39-22 and put forth a stellar defensive effort in the second half. The Wildcats shot 34.9 percent from the field for the game, but only shot at a 20.8 percent clip in the second half.
Bethune-Cookman came out firing in the opening stanza, hitting on 10 of its 19 shots. The Wildcats hot shooting kept it close for much of the first half, but ODU would close on a 13-4 run to take a 12-point lead headed into the break, 35-23.
ODU would stretch its lead in the second half, coming out of the intermission on a 7-0 run. Redshirt junior Frank Hassell hit a jumper and junior Darius James drilled a three-pointer during the Monarchs run.
The Wildcats would get no closer than 16 points the remainder of the game.
James paced the Monarch with a game-high five assists and sophomore Chris Cooper registered three blocked shots in the win
Bethune-Cookman's 38 total points were tied for the second fewest by an ODU opponent in Monarch history. The Wildcats scored three more points' than Toledo's 35 back on November 16, 2007 in the Monarchs' 66-35 victory.
Old Dominion will return home on Tuesday, Nov. 17 to take on Longwood at the Constant Center. Game-time is set for 7 p.m.
-ODU-