Roanoke couldn't make enough shots. Now, there are no more shots for the Maroons.

Locked in a tie game with 10 ¹₂ minutes left, Roanoke made only seven field goals the rest of the way and saw its season end Saturday night in a 67-57 loss to Guilford in the ODAC men's basketball tournament semifinals at the Salem Civic Center.

"We just didn't make shots ... just didn't make shots," said Maroons senior guard A.J. Dowell, his eyes watering with tears. "It just hurts. It hurts me that I let my teammates down more than myself. It wasn't supposed to end like that."

While Roanoke's season is done, 12th-ranked Guilford (23-4) advanced to today's 3:30 p.m. championship game against Virginia Wesleyan. It marks the Quakers' first appearance in the tournament title game since the school joined the ODAC in 1991-92.

"We've finally gotten there and we're going to try hard to get it done," said Guilford forward Eric Belkoski, one of three four-year senior starters for Tom Palumbo's club. "We're going to play hard and we're going to play good."

The Quakers are strong. Few Division III teams, if any, have an answer for 6-foot-11 senior center Ben Strong, who was D3hoops.com's national player of the year last season. Throw in Belkoski, a tough kid who plays every possession like it may be his last; senior guard Caleb Kimbrough who directs the show; another three or four guys who can score off the dribble, and another big guy, 6-10 freshman post Tyler Sanborn and it's no wonder this bunch gives teams headaches.

"They play a very calculated game of basketball," Roanoke coach Page Moir of the Quakers. "The big guy is the best big man I've seen in my 19 years in Division III. They use him properly, he's got good kids to go with him and they make plays. They play great defense, you've got to hit some tough shots against them, you've got to hit open 3s, and we didn't hit enough of 'em."

Still, the scoreboard was square at 40 through 30 minutes.

"I felt we were in good shape," Moir said. "Then they hit a spurt, got up eight or nine points. Then we couldn't find the basket and they finished us off."

The Maroons were 23-for-66 from the field for 34.8 percent. It was their second-worst shooting game of the season. The worst? Try 31.5 percent on Jan. 23 against Guilford.

"If you have two 6-10 guys, it's tough to score on them," said Dowell, who managed only five points on 2-for-9 shooting. "Plus, they're deep and they're talented offensively. They were the better team tonight. They're not the Chicago Bulls or anything, but they can play."

Outside of 14 points by freshman guard Melvin Felix, 12 points by junior center Curtis Peery and nine points by senior shooting guard Ben Shrader, Roanoke had little offensive production. No other Maroon scored more than five points.

"We played hard, they got a few rolls and we didn't down the stretch," said senior point guard Keith Carter, who was 1-for-5 shooting and scored five points. "We've got to put the ball in the hoop ... because when they're on a spurt and you're not scoring, you're in trouble."

Strong's game highs of 18 points and 11 rebounds led Guilford. Belkoski had 13 points, and Kimbrough added 11.

ROANOKE (18-9)

LaPorte 1-6 0-2 6, Peery 6-15 0-0 12, Dowell 2-9 0-0 5, Carter 1-5 2-2 5, Milton 1-5 0-0 2, Shrader 3-7 0-0 9, Gaeng 0-0 0-0 0, Felix 6-10 0-0 14, Leiter 1-3 0-0 3, Crizer 0-0 0-0 0, Tyson 1-3 1-2 3, Sheppard 1-1 0-0 2, Chittock 0-1 0-0 0, Sigmon 0-1 0-0 0, Totals 23-66 3-4 57.

GUILFORD (23-4)

Sanborn 0-3 0-0 0, Belkoski 4-12 5-6 13, Strong 7-10 4-6 18, Henson 3-12 1-2 7, Kimbrough 3-7 4-7 11, Edmond 0-1 0-0 0, Stephenson 2-3 0-0 4, Neville 4-6 0-0 8, Bonner 2-4 1-1 6, Totals 25-58 15-22 67.

Halftime -- 26-26. 3-point goals -- Roanoke 8-29 (Shrader 3-5, Felix 2-5, Leiter 1-3, Dowell 1-5, Carter 1-5, Milton 0-3, LaPorte 0-2, Chittock 0-1), Guilford 2-17 (Bonner 1-1, Kimbrough 1-4, Belkoski 0-5, Henson 0-6, Edmond 0-1). Rebounds -- Roanoke 31 (Peery 7), Guilford 51 (Strong 11). Total fouls -- Roanoke 17, Guilford 9. Fouled out -- None. A -- 2,419.