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NORFOLK, VA-- The Old Dominion University Monarchs had five players in double figures led by red-shirt freshman Dimitri Batten (Newport News, VA.) with 17 while senior Chris Cooper (Dumfries,VA.) scored 12 points with 15 rebounds along with freshman Breon Key's (Hampton,VA.) 12 points for a 79-68 exhibitionwin over Barton College (Wilson, NC.) Tuesday night.
Joining Key, Cooper and Batten with double-figure points were senior Marquel De Lancey (Alexandria, VA.) and freshman forward Jason Pimentel (Ocala, FL.) with 10 each.
Senior guard Trian Iliadis (Perth, W.Australia) added nine points and four assists while De Lancey was the game leader with five assists. The peninsula duo of Batten and Key led the night with three steals each.
The Monarchs trailed Barton at halftime, 38-33, but rallied and took the lead for good , 41-40with 16:02 left on a layup by Chris Cooper. ODU lead by as many as 18, 71-53 with 4:40 left in the game.
ODU finished the game shooting .455 (30-66) from the field and outrebounded Barton, 49-37. Along with Coopersgame high 15 boards, Pimentel added eigth while Nick Wright and Batten each had six. ODU turned the ballover 15 times, but only four times in the second half. Barton shot .393 (24-61) from the field and turned theball over 18 times.
The Monarchs return to action on Friday night at 7 p.m. when they host Elizabeth City State from the CIAA in another exhibition contest. ODU opens the regular season on Saturday, Nov. 12 at home against Northern Iowa.