SALEM, Va. — The only time Lynchburg and Eastern Mennonite faced off the in regular season, way back on November 23, LC’s Manny Hernandez scored 28 points en route to a 107-87 rout of the Royals. EMU returned the favor in the ODAC Tournament quarterfinals.

David Falk led the way with an ODAC-record 28 rebounds to go with 16 points and two blocks, Ryan Yates paced all scorers with 34 points on 17 shots, and Marcel Crump chipped in 16 points of his own as the fifth-seeded Royals knocked off the fourth-seeded Hornets, 93-81, in the second Friday quarterfinal at Salem Civic Center.

“I had a chip on my shoulder,” Yates said. “I’m as good a player as anyone in the conference, and I didn’t feel like we were getting the recognition we deserved.”

With the exception of a 2-2 tie, the Royals led wire-to-wire. EMU bought itself some early breathing room from the 12:40 mark on, using a 19-2 run to go out in front 30-11. Lynchburg went off for 10 straight after that point, but the Royals immediately responded. Falk threw down a dunk, beginning a spurt where the fifth seed scored 11 of the half’s final 13 points.

The game was more notable for its rarities than for its competitiveness (which it lacked). Falk produced a beautiful, clean block in the second half after being called for goaltending on a similar play in the first; Crump took advantage of LC confusion in transition to rise and slam a thunderous alley-oop; we saw our first blocked three-point attempt of the year, as EMU’s Woody Furbrush turned away a Daniel Rowe try; and in one of the more odd stats of the day, three free-throw attempts were airballed, with one failing to even touch the net.

One of those failures from the line belonged to Falk, but it didn’t matter. He was a machine on the defensive glass, not letting Lynchburg get second-chance opportunities. On a night where the Hornets shot just 36% from the floor, that alone made the difference. Thanks to his efforts, Eastern Mennonite advances to tomorrow’s semifinal against #8 Hampden-Sydney.

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• Final: #5 Eastern Mennonite Royals 93, #4 Lynchburg Hornets 81
• Player of the Game: David Falk (EMU) (ODAC-record 28 rebounds, 16 points, 2 blocks)