Fredericksburg, Va. – The defending Capital Athletic Conference champion, St. Mary's College of Maryland, was tripped up Thursday night in the semifinals of the 2014 CAC Men's Basketball Championship Tournament, falling 70-65 to second-seeded University of Mary Washington.

Mary Washington (21-5) now has the opportunity to play for the program's second CAC championship tournament title this Saturday, March 1st at 2:00 p.m. The Eagles will host fifth-seeded Christopher Newport University; a 59-54 road winner over top-seeded Wesley College in tonight's other semifinal.

For the third-seeded Seahawks (19-8), they will have to wait for the announcement of the 2014 NCAA Division III Men's Basketball Championship Tournament bracket and hope for an at-large berth.

St. Mary's never owned a lead in the game but the Seahawks never gave up the fight. Finding themselves down 20 points with 13:26 to go, St. Mary's outscored UMW by a 28-11 margin and junior captain Nicholas LaGuerre (Baltimore, Md./Lansdowne) capped the run with a triple with less than a minute left to close the gap to 68-65.

The two sides each missed a three-point attempt in their respective possessions before junior guard Taylor Johnson (Ashburn, Va.) knocked down two free throws with seven ticks on the clock to make it a two-possession game and seal the win.

Senior captain Brendan McFall (Poolesville, Md./Poolesville) recorded his second career double-double on 16 points and career-best 12 rebounds to lead the Seahawks while senior guard Donn Hill (Aberdeen, Md./Bel Air) added 14 and sophomore forward Troy Spurrier (Mt. Airy,  Md./Glenelg) finished the night with 10 points, six boards, and two assists.

The Eagles posted a 44-26 halftime advantage behind Johnson's 17 first-half points on 5-of-8 shooting, including 3-of-6 from behind the three-point line. Hill paced St. Mary's with six while McFall hauled in six caroms in the first 20 minutes. Johnson finished the night with a near double-double on game-best 22 points and nine rebounds.

Mary Washington shot nearly 54% (15-of-28) from the field, including 6-of-13 from downtown, in the first half but then dropped to 25.0% for the final 20 minutes. The Seahawks put up a 37.5-field goal percentage in the first 20 minutes before improving to almost 45%.

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