WILMINGTON, NC—ODU senior forward Richard Ross scored 17 points, sophomore guard Keenan Palmore 16 and freshman guard Jordan Baker 10 points to lead the Monarchs (5-7) to a 69-57 victory over the Seahawks of UNC Wilmington (6-7) Saturday afternoon. It was the Monarchs first road win of the season and ended a six-game losing streak.
ODU tied the game at 35-35 with 12:50 left on a Jordan Baker three-pointer, Baker came right back and hit a layup to put ODU up, 37-35. After two Chris Dixon free throws tied the game at 3-7-37, Jordan Baker hit another three-pointer to put ODU up, 40-37 for good with 10:58 left. ODU would go on to build a lead by as many as 14, 62-48 with 1:34 remaining in the game.
The Monarchs started the second half on an 8-0 run led by Keenan Palmore who scored all eight for a 32-24 ODU lead at the 18:03 mark.
The Monarchs led, 24-22 at halftime as both freshman Denzell Taylor and red-shirt junior Richard Ross had eight points and four rebounds each. ODU shot .387 in the first half to the Seahawks .304. Shane Reybold led UNCW with six points and four rebounds.
Ross finished the game with 17 points, 10 rebounds and two blocked shots. He was 8-for-12 from the field. Ross now has three double-doubles this year. Baker was 4-for-8 from the field for 10 points along with three assists. Dimitri Batten and Aaron Bacote both scored nine points with Denzell Taylor scoring eight.
ODU shot .500 (28-56) from the field and .640 (16-25) in the second half. UNCW shot .412 (21-51) from the field. The Monarchs outrebounded the Seahawks, 36-32. Besides Ross with 10 boards, Denzell Taylor hauled down seven and Dimitri Batten added six.
UNCW was led by Cedrick Williams with 11 points and seven rebounds, followed by Luke Hager with 10 points.
The Monarchs break for Christmas and return to action on Dec. 28th at the University of Richmond in a 6:30 p.m. contest at the Robins Center.