Box
Score
Hampden-Sydney, Va. - The No. 25 St. Mary's
College of Maryland men's basketball team earned a spot in
Wednesday's championship game of The Car Coop/Weenie Miller
Memorial Holiday Hoops hosted by Hampden-Sydney College with a
come-from-behind 69-64 win over Averett University Tuesday night.
The Seahawks (9-2) will take on Hampden-Sydney in tomorrow's
championship game at 4:00 pm as H-SC notched an 83-56 triumph over
John Jay College earlier in the day behind 29 points from
Turner King.
The Seahawk defense held Averett to just 13 points in the second
half as the Cougars' shooting percentage dropped from 62.5% to
19.2%, including going 0-of-10 from long range. St. Mary's
shooting also suffered in the final 20 minutes (falling from 69.2%
to 26.1%) but the Seahawks were strong from the charity stripe,
making 11-of-14.
St. Mary's made five straight free throws in the final 37
seconds to break a 64-64 tie as sophomore guard James
Davenport (Owings Mills, Md./Loyola Blakefield) connected
on all three of his attempts after being fouled on a three-point
shot while junior guard Alex Franz (Catonsville,
Md./Cardinal Gibbons) made both of his attempts at 00:16.
Averett's senior guard Chad Hardway (Danville,
Va./Tunstall) missed on his three-pointer at 00:07; however,
sophomore Ruben Pierce (Suffolk, Va./Nansemond
River) grabbed the offensive board but was off the mark with his
put-back as well and Davenport secured the win
with the defensive carom at 00:03.
Senior guard Camontae Griffin (Baltimore,
Md./Dunbar) paced all players with 27 points on 9-of-19 shooting
from the floor and an 8-of-10 effort from the free throw
line. Griffin also matched his career-high
with five rebounds. Franz was the only other
player in double digits as he equaled his season-best with 16
points and added game-highs of seven assists and five steals.
Franz and junior forward Johann
Jones (Severn, Md./Meade Senior) each hauled in a
team-best six boards while freshman guard Chris
Hutchinson (Baltimore, Md./New Town) grabbed a season-and
game-high five steals.
The game was tied three times in the first three minutes of the
first half with the last one coming at 17:10 when
Franz's three-pointer knotted it up at
11-all. Franz sparked a 9-3 run which gave
the Seahawks their biggest (and last) lead of the half as St.
Mary's owned a 20-14 margin with 14:19 to go before halftime.
Averett (2-7) erased its six-point deficit and used a 24-9 run
to stake a 38-29 advantage with 5:03 remaining in the half as the
Cougars nailed 10-of-18 from the downtown, including a 3-of-3
effort from senior guard Brandon Malone
(Mechanicsville, Va./Atlee) in the final 2:39 of the half.
Franz pulled St. Mary's within 51-46 at halftime
with his second three-pointer with four seconds left.
Sophomore forward Kenny Hart (Suffolk,
Va./Nansemond River) led the Cougars in the game with 14 points
while Malone finished with nine after being
shutdown in the second half. Hardway pulled
down a game-best seven caroms while chipping in seven points.
