Box Score
Owings Mills, Md. – In a rematch of last year's Pride of Maryland Division III Men's Basketball State Championship title game, No. 11 St. Mary's College of Maryland moved one step closer to a three-peat with a commanding 77-60 victory over Hood College Friday night on the campus of Stevenson University.
St. Mary's (2-0) will square off against Capital Athletic Conference newcomer, Frostburg State University, tomorrow to determine the 2010 Pride of Maryland champion at 8:30 pm. Frostburg State (2-0) was a 74-72 winner over host Stevenson to advance to the title game.
After finishing as the runner-up last season, Hood (1-1) will now battle Stevenson (1-2) for third-place at 6:30 pm.
Seahawk first-year forward Christian MacAuley (Silver Spring, Md./Paint Branch) collected a Pride of Maryland single-game record with eight blocks on the night, surpassing the old mark of six set by Johns Hopkins University's Danny Nawrocki against St. Mary's in 2006. With one tournament match-up remaining, MacAuley has already equaled Nawrocki's tournament record of 13 blocks in just two games.
Senior center Sam Burum (Bethesda, Md./Walt Whitman) paced the Seahawks in the win with season-highs of 16 points, seven rebounds, four steals and three assists while fellow classmate Alex Franz (Catonsville, Md./Cardinal Gibbons) contributed 13 points, six assists, five boards, and four steals.
St. Mary's cruised to a 46-30 halftime advantage, opening up with an 11-0 run behind the sharpshooting duo of guards Devin Spencer (Baltimore, Md./Towson Catholic) and Mikey Fitzpatrick (Bethesda, Md./Walt Whitman) and never looking back. The Blazers were able to pull within three twice in the first half – once at 12:54 on a jumper by junior guard Jamal Bell (Parkville, Md./Overlea) and again at 7:19 following a three-point play by junior guard Brenden Straughn (New Carrollton, Md./Eleanor Roosevelt).
Hood would get no closer in the first half or for the rest of the game as the Seahawks led by as many as 26 in the second stanza. It was raining 3's as St. Mary's was a solid 11-of-25 from behind the three-point. Junior guard Deon Queen (Pasadena, Md./Long Reach) joined in the fun going 3-of-5 from downtown to finish with 11 points off the bench in 15 minutes. Franz connected on three long-range shots as well.
Fitzpatrick ended the night with 12 points on 5-of-7 shooting, including 2-of-4 from downtown, and chipped in four rebounds, two steals and one block.
