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

The Basics

• Score: St. Mary's 85, Marymount 63
• Records: St. Mary's (10-9, 5-7 CAC), Marymount (9-10, 6-6 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 put up a big second half in marching past Marymount (Va.) University, 85-63, Saturday afternoon in Capital Athletic Conference action. Junior captain Delaszo Smith (Annapolis, Md./Annapolis) paced the Seahawks with a game-best 18 points as Smith went 9-of-10 at the free throw line.

What It Means

• Today's victory puts St. Mary's in a two-way tie for seventh in the conference standings as the Seahawks split their season series with Marymount. The Seahawks are still in the hunt for one of the six playoff spots as they're just one game out from the top six.

How It Happened

• St. Mary's relied on its inside play for the win this afternoon as the Seahawks outdueled Marymount, 52-32, in the paint.
• The Seahawks erased a 37-34 halftime deficit by outscoring the Saints, 51-26, in the second half behind 13 points from Smith and 10 from junior guard Ochae Bynum (Waldorf, Md./North Point) on 5-of-8 shooting.
• After going 0-for-6 from downtown in the first half, back-to-back three-pointers from Smith and first-year guard Matt Ayoub (Fairfax, Va./W.T. Woodson) to start the final 20 minutes helped the Seahawks claim an early 40-37 lead.
• Senior guard Michael Anderson (Leesburg, Va./Loudon County) scored four of Marymount's next six points as the Saints tied the game (46-46) for the 13th and final time at 14:36. From here, it was all St. Mary's as junior wing Chris Craft, Jr. (Waldorf, Md./Westlake) sparked a 14-3 run which sealed a double-digit Seahawk lead for the remainder of the game.

Inside the Box Score

• As a team, St. Mary's posted one of its best efforts of the season at the free throw line as the Seahawks shot a season-best 79.2-percent (19-of-24) while edging Marymount on the boards, 39-35, including 29 defensive caroms.
• St. Mary's also benefitted from 22 fast-break points and 22 points off of 18 Saint miscues this afternoon.
• Joining Smith in double-figure scoring were junior wing LaVonte Sanders (Upper Marlboro, Md./Wise) and Ayoub with 15 each. Sanders paced the Seahawks as well with nine rebounds.
• Bynum rounded out the scoring with 14 points and added a season-best seven boards.

Up Next

• St. Mary's will look to extend its win streak to three on Wednesday, February 1 when the Seahawks travel to York College of Pennsylvania (12-7, 7-5 CAC) for a CAC matchup at 8:00 p.m. In their previous meeting this season, St. Mary's suffered a heartbreaking 88-84 loss on its home court on January 18 despite raining a season-best 12 three-pointers on the Spartans.

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