For Immediate Release · By Nairem Moran · nmoran@smcm.edu

The Basics

• Score: St. Mary's 86, Wesley 78
• Records: St. Mary's (9-9, 4-7 CAC), Wesley (7-11, 5-6 CAC)
• Location: St. Mary's City, Md. · Michael P. O'Brien Athletics & Recreation Center Arena
• The Short Story: The St. Mary's College of Maryland men's basketball team opened up a commanding lead and then stymied Wesley College's rally to hold on for an important 86-78 Capital Athletic Conference victory Wednesday night. Junior wing Lavonte Sanders (Upper Marlboro, Md./Wise) led the charge for the Seahawks with a season-best 19 points.

How It Happened

• St. Mary's came out of the gates fast and furious, jumping out to a 13-1 lead four minutes in and maintaining a double-digit lead for all but 5:15 minutes of the first half.
• Sanders notched eight points to pace the Seahawks at halftime as he went 4-of-4 at the free throw line while first-year guard Matt Ayoub (Fairfax, Va./W.T. Woodson) chipped in five points and five rebounds.
• St. Mary's led by as many as 17 in the second half, including at 13:57 when Ayoub knocked down a three-pointer off an assist from junior wing Chris Craft, Jr. (Waldorf, Md./Westlake).
• From there, the Wolverines fired up a 29-19 run ignited by a 3-ball from junior guard JW Lawson (Newark, Del./Concord) to cut the deficit down to 69-62 with 5:22 left in the game.
• Back-to-back three-pointers from Ayoub and junior captain Delaszo Smith (Annapolis, Md./Annapolis) rebuilt a double-digit advantage as the Seahawks led by 12 at 3:18.
• The Wolverines weren't done yet as Wesley used a 9-2 push to pull within five with 1:16 on the clock but Smith sealed the win by going 6-of-6 at the line over the final 39 seconds.

Inside the Box Score

• This Sanders' 10th double-figure scoring performance while also adding five rebounds and a season-best three blocks.
• First-year guard Tre Mouton (Waldorf, Md./North Point) came off the bench to contribute 15 points on 6-of-9 shooting plus a season-high three steals.
• Ayoub was 3-of-3 from downtown and finished the contest with 14 points while chipping in season-bests of seven rebounds and three steals.
• Smith put up a dozen points as he went 7-of-8 from the charity stripe and tallied season-bests of five assists and four steals.

Up Next

• St. Mary's next CAC matchup will be at home once again as the Seahawks host Marymount (Va.) University (9-9, 6-5 CAC) on Saturday, January 28 at 4:00 p.m. In their previous meeting this season, St. Mary's dropped a 10-point decision in Arlington on December 3.

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