Box Score
Frostburg, Md. – With two blocks Saturday afternoon, first-year center Christian MacAuley (Silver Spring, Md./Paint Branch) broke the single-season record for blocks and helped No. 19 St. Mary's College of Maryland to a 75-71 regular-season finale victory over host Frostburg State University in Capital Athletic Conference action.
MacAuley has accumulated 74 blocks thus far in his rookie campaign, surpassing Alex Robling '92 mark of 72 during the 1990-91 season. MacAuley had equaled the record last Saturday with two blocks the Seahawks win over Wesley College.
Four Seahawks scored in double digits as senior guard Alex Franz (Catonsville, Md./Cardinal Gibbons) led the way with a game-best 20 points. Senior center Sam Burum (Bethesda, Md./Walt Whitman) was next with his third double-double of the season on 19 points and game-high 10 rebounds. Sophomore guard Chris Hutchinson (Owings Mills, Md./New Town) added career-bests of 13 points and seven boards while MacAuley chipped in a dozen.
Thanks to York (Pa.) College handing Wesley a 74-73 setback Wednesday night, St. Mary's clinched the No. 1 seed in the 2011 CAC Men's Basketball Tournament, which begins next Tuesday, February 22 with first round action, as well as its third straight conference regular-season title with a 14-2 league record.
As the top seed, St. Mary's (20-5, 14-2 CAC) receives a first round bye and will take on the winner of #5 Hood College and #4 University of Mary Washington on Thursday, February 24 at 7:00 pm.
Frostburg State (11-14, 6-10 CAC), who beat the Seahawks on November 20 in non-conference action, gave St. Mary's fits again as the Bobcats led for most of the first half, owning a 19-11 advantage – their biggest of the game – at 11:20. Burum tied it up at 21-all at 7:48 but Frostburg retained the lead. The Seahawks needed a 16-6 run in the final 7:41 of the half to take over the game and head into the locker room with a 37-32 lead at the break.
Senior guard Brian Anderson (Perry Hall, Md./Eastern Tech) finished the game with 18 points for the Bobcats after tallying 16 first-half points while sophomore forward DeSean Antoine (Odenton, Md./Glen Burnie) and junior Maurice Williams (Columbus, Ohio/Pickerington Central) led a 39-point bench effort with 19 and 10, respectively.
The Seahawks seemed to have the game victory sealed up in the second half, leading by 10 with 2:49 remaining in the game. Frostburg, however, had different ideas and the game got interesting following the Bobcats' 11-3 run to close the gap to 73-71 with 40 seconds left. Hutchinson made 2-of-4 from the charity stripe in the final 15 seconds and FSU missed two field goal attempts for the 75-71 final.
