Box Score St. Mary's City, Md. – The St. Mary's College of Maryland men's basketball team lit up the second half en route to a 95-80 victory over Marymount (Va.) University in the first round of the 2014 Capital Athletic Conference Men's Basketball Championship Tournament Tuesday night.
The third-seeded Seahawks (19-7) will now travel to Fredericksburg, Virginia, to face second-seeded University of Mary Washington (20-5) in one of two CAC semifinals Thursday night at 7:00 p.m. Mary Washington and Wesley College were the only two conference schools to sweep St. Mary's this season.
Thursday's other semifinal matchup will feature fifth-seeded Christopher Newport University at top-seeded Wesley as the Captains outlasted fourth-seeded Salisbury University, 78-74, in overtime.
Prior to the game, junior captain Nicholas LaGuerre (Baltimore, Md./Lansdowne) was recognized for reaching 1,000 career points with a game-best 19 points at Wesley this past Saturday.
LaGuerre and sophomore forward Troy Spurrier (Mt. Airy, Md./Glenelg) led a group of four Seahawks in double-digit scoring as they each tallied a game-best 21 points. Senior guard Donn Hill (Aberdeen, Md./Bel Air) came in with 16 points and season-high five assists while senior forward Brendan McFall's (Poolesville, Md./Poolesville) tallied 15.
Senior guard Kyle Wise (Baltimore, Md./Calvert Hall) put together a well-rounded stat line for the Seahawks as Wise collected career-bests of nine assists and eight rebounds plus six points.
St. Mary's opened up with a 5-0 run but Marymount (15-11) quickly turned that around as the Saints came out of the gates firing and they could not miss. Senior forward Reed Scott (Ellicott City, Md./Howard) drained a pair of triples in MU's 20-7 run to lead by eight at 12:04. Marymount continued to lead by eight at 6:47 on a layup by junior forward JC Hoellich (Chesapeake Beach, Md.).
The Seahawks responded with three triples of their own to reclaim the lead and stake a 40-35 advantage with 1:26 until halftime. However, the Saints were only down two at intermission as junior guard Antonio Rouse (Woodbridge, Va./Bishop Ireton) beat the buzzer with a long-range shot.
LaGuerre led all scorers with 10 first-half points as he went 2-of-3 from downtown and helped St. Mary's go 7-of-11 (63.6 3FG%) for the half. Scott and Hoellich paced the Saints with eight points each as Marymount shot 55.2% (16-of-29) from the floor, including 6-of-10 from behind the arc.
In the second half, the Seahawks shot a season-best 67.9% (19-of-28) from the field, including 6-of-8 from three-point land, in turning around a five-point deficit with a 23-6 run in a seven-minute span to lead by double-digits for good at 9:47.
Hoellich paced the Saints in the loss with a double-double on 18 points and game-best 10 boards while Scott finished with 12 points.
Facebook: StMarysAthletics
Twitter: @smcseahawks, #SMCMmbb, #smchoops, #SeahawkAthletics
Instagram: @smcseahawks