San Juan, P.R. – The No. 23 St. Mary's College of Maryland men's basketball team held on for a 54-51 non-conference victory over Susquehanna University on Saturday evening at the Puerto Rico Division III Classic.

Today's win snaps the Seahawks' (6-3) first two-game skid since January 2012. Junior captain Nicholas LaGuerre (Baltimore, Md./Lansdowne) paced St. Mary's in the win with game-bests of 15 points and seven rebounds plus three assists and two steals while senior forward Brendan McFall (Poolesville, Md./Poolesville) added 10 points, three boards, and two assists.

The Seahawks never trailed again after the first 15 seconds of the second half as first-year forward Pat Ryan's (Arlington, Va./Mercersburg Academy [Pa.]) first career three-pointer capped a 20-12 run to build a 49-42 advantage with 6:15 left in regulation.

Susquehanna (6-4) responded with a 9-3 run of its own to pull within 52-51 at 1:07 behind a jumper by sophomore guard Brandon Hedley (Silver Spring, Md.). Senior captain Kyle Wise (Baltimore, Md./Calvert Hall) made it a three-point game with 16 seconds to go and the Crusaders could not regain the lead as SU turned the ball over three times in the final 23 seconds.

Hedley was Susquehanna's leader with game-bests of 15 points and four assists plus three caroms and two steals while first-year guard Steven Weidlich (Watchung, N.J./Watchung Hills) contributed 13 points, five rebounds, two assists and two steals.

St. Mary's opened up the game with a 15-5 run but only owned a 29-28 halftime advantage as Weidlich drilled one of his two first-half three-pointers with nine seconds remaining in the first half. LaGuerre's shot as time expired was off the mark and the Seahawks went into the locker room with a one-point lead.

LaGuerre notched 13 of his 15 points in the first half as the team shot 48.0% (12-of-25) from the field while Weidlich had 11 in the first 20 minutes for the Crusaders and SU shot 38.5% (10-of-26) from the floor.

The Seahawks will be back in action tomorrow with their second game of the Puerto Rico Division III Classic. St. Mary's will take on Universidad del Sagrado Corazon at 3:00 pm to wrap up its Caribbean trip.

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