St. Mary's City, Md. – Junior guard Brendan McFall (Poolesville, Md./Poolesville) poured in a career-high 27 points in leading the No. 7 St. Mary's College of Maryland men's basketball team to an 89-80 Capital Athletic Conference victory over the University of Mary Washington Saturday afternoon to make it a memorable Senior Day.
With the win today and Wesley College's 83-78 double overtime loss to Salisbury University, St. Mary's (22-3, 10-2 CAC) gained its fifth consecutive CAC regular-season title as well as the top seed in the upcoming 2013 CAC Men's Basketball Championship Tournament which begins Tuesday, February 19 with first-round action.
As the No. 1 seed, the Seahawks will have a first-round bye and host a semifinal matchup with either No. 4 seed Mary Washington or No. 5 seed Frostburg State University on Thursday at 7:00 p.m.
Prior to the start of the game today, St. Mary's honored its four senior players – James Davenport (Baltimore, Md./Loyola Blakefield), Jeff Haus (Pittsburgh, Pa./North Allegheny), Therm James (Randallstown, Md./Baltimore City College), and Devin Spencer (Baltimore, Md./Towson Catholic) – as well as team manager She'Tiel Coley.
McFall was 6-of-8 from the field while being nearly perfect at the line with a 14-of-15 effort and grabbing a game-high seven rebounds. Spencer had a near double-double with 14 points and nine assists while Davenport chipped in 10 points behind a pair of three-pointers.
It was a pretty tight matchup in the first half with both teams shooting over 40%; however, Mary Washington (13-12, 6-6 CAC) was sharp from downtown, hitting 7-of-13 from the behind the arc including first-year Lamonte Fields' (Dinwiddie, Va./Dinwiddie) half-court shot at the buzzer to give the Eagles a 37-36 advantage at intermission.
The back-and-forth continued in the second half with 17 lead changes and three tied scores. Junior guard Bradley Riester's (Richmond, Va./Monacan) three-pointer gave UMW its last lead of the game of 69-67 with 4:57 left in regulation. St. Mary's responded with a quick 5-0 run to return the lead in its favor for good. Down the stretch, Spencer knocked down back-to-back three pointers and McFall was 6-of-6 at the line over the final 1:25 to seal the win.
First-year forward Sean Armstrong (Richmond, Va./Monacan) tallied 22 points on 12-of-13 shooting from the free throw line to lead the Eagles while Riester finished the day with 20 points and six assists.
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