Box Score
St. Mary's City, Md. – The St.
Mary's College of Maryland run in the NCAA Division III
Men's Basketball Championship came to a halt Friday night in
front of a sold-out crowd as the No. 13 Seahawks dropped a
heartbreaking 92-87 decision to No. 18 Franklin & Marshall
College in Sweet 16 action.
The game came down to the wire as the Seahawks closed the gap on
an eight-point shortfall in a 20-second span in the final 32
seconds of the contest. Junior forward Mike
Baker (Maryland Heights, Mo./Whitfield School) knocked
down two free throws to put Franklin & Marshall ahead, 87-79,
with 32 ticks on the clock.
On the ensuing play for St. Mary's, first-year guard
Devin Spencer (Baltimore, Md./Towson Catholic)
took a feed from junior guard Alex Franz
(Catonsville, Md./Cardinal Gibbons) and drained the three at 00:24
(87-82). Senior guard Camontae Griffin
(Baltimore, Md./Dunbar) then makes good on two free throw attempts
at 00:20 and connects on a three-pointer with 12 seconds remaining
to pull the Seahawks within 89-87.
Junior forward James McNally (Bridgewater,
N.J./Bridgewater-Raritan) sealed the win for Franklin &
Marshall as McNally went 3-of-4 from the free
throw line and senior guard Anthony Brooks
(Orlando, Fla./Lake Mary) blocked Griffin's
three-point attempt with three seconds left.
Franklin & Marshall Diplomats (26-4) will now take on No. 16
Randolph-Macon College (25-6), who was a 68-55 winner over DeSales
University in tonight's first sectional semifinals, in
Saturday night's sectional final at 7:00 pm at the Michael P.
O'Brien Athletics & Recreation Center Arena. The
winner from Saturday's match-up will advance to next
weekend's “Final Four” in Salem, Va.
St. Mary's closes its amazing 2009-10 campaign with the
program's best-ever record at 26-4, setting the school record
for most wins in a season by any Seahawk basketball squad in
program history. The Seahawks also captured the
program's third Capital Athletic Conference championship
crown as well as back-to-back CAC regular-season titles.
The Centennial Conference Player of the Year,
McNally led all scorers with 27 points, including
14 in the first half, on 12-of-18 shooting while hauling in a
team-high nine rebounds. Joining McNally
with 20+ points was All-Centennial selection sophomore guard
Georgio Milligan (Spring Valley, N.Y./Don Bosco
Prep) with 22 points as well as a game-high nine assists.
Baker contributed 14 points and seven boards.
St. Mary's jumped out ahead early in the
first half as junior center Sam Burum's
(Bethesda, Md./Walt Whitman) layup gave his Seahawks an 18-10 lead
at 13:53 – the team's biggest margin all game.
F&M was not fazed as the Diplomats outscored the home team,
21-12, in six minutes to claim a one-point lead.
The Seahawks then mounted a 9-2 surge, capped by sophomore guard
James Davenport (Owings Mills, Md./Loyola
Blakefield) three-pointer, which gave them a 44-38 edge with 3:43
remaining in the half. F&M responded with six straight to
tie the game for the fourth time at 1:50 before back-to-back layups
by Burum and Davenport sent St.
Mary's into intermission with a 48-44 advantage.
In his final collegiate ballgame, Griffin paced
his squad with 26 points, connecting on all eight of his free throw
attempts and matching his career-high with four
three-pointers. Burum also netted 20+ points
with 22 on 11-of-14 shooting while Davenport
finished the evening with 11 points, six boards, and five assists.
Franz reached double digits as well for the Seahawks as he
poured in 17 points but on the night that ended his junior
campaign, Franz reached a milestone. He
joined St. Mary's elite group of scorers who have eclipsed
1000 points in their careers. Griffin (1,156
points in two years) and Franz (1,006 points) now
rank in the top 15 on St. Mary's all-time scoring list.
The momentum changed in favor of Franklin & Marshall at the
start of the second half when the Diplomats opened up with a 23-12
run, giving them a seven-point bulge at 10:42 and forcing St.
Mary's to play catch-up from there on out.
This was St. Mary's second appearance in the Sweet 16 in
just its second NCAA bid as the 2007-08 edition of the Seahawks
made a “Cinderella” run in their first-ever trip to the
NCAA Division III Men's Basketball Championship.
