Senior Spirit Week for the Washington and Lee men’s basketball team did not end the way the Generals would have liked, as they suffered a lopsided loss to Roanoke College. Roanoke beat the Generals Wednesday night 90-54 and had control of the game from the start. The Generals struggled shooting the ball from the field and seemed out of sync throughout the game.

Despite the loss, Captain Clayton Murtha, ’18, said, “It’s exciting to look into the stands and see a lot of your classmates in the stands.”

He said he believes this is something special about Washington and Lee.

“I think that’s one of the things that makes W&L so unique is that, given the small school, you know the people who are out on the court or the field and it’s fun to be able to root on your classmates.”

Going into the game, Captain Alex Starr, ’19, said, “Roanoke plays a similar style to us. They use four guards and one big and try and shoot the ball from the outside.”

The style of play the team demonstrated in the game against Roanoke is not common for this year’s team and certainly was not expected going into Wednesday night’s game. The team on the season had been averaging 86.1 points per game on 45 percent shooting from the field and 37 percent from three. Against Roanoke, the team was held to 54 points shooting, just 34 percent from the field and 23 percent shooting from three.

However, the Generals are still in a solid position to win the conference in the regular season and make it to the NCAA tournament.

In regards to the loss, Murtha said, “It was a tough game. They played well and we didn’t play well at all, but [there’s] always a next play, next game, next practice mentality.”

Murtha said he believes this team is special and has the capability to rebound from a loss like this.

“We’re going to learn from the loss. We’ll be better the next time.”

With a record of 12-7 and six games to go, there is still plenty of time for the Generals to turn this season around.

According to Murtha, “We will bounce back and work to achieve our goals of winning the ODAC tournament and qualifying for the NCAA tournament.”