Fredericksburg, Va. – In a battle of Capital Athletic Conference unbeatens, No. 17 St. Mary's College of Maryland surged to the top of league standings as the Seahawks used a strong second half to post a 91-65 victory over host University of Mary Washington Wednesday night. The loss snapped Mary Washington's nine-game win streak while the Seahawks improved to 5-0 in conference action.
Four Seahawks scored in double figures in helping the team to their second straight victory. Senior captain Alex Franz (Catonsville, Md./Cardinal Gibbons) paced the foursome with a near double-double as Franz tallied a game-best 17 points and season-best nine rebounds. Fellow classmate Sam Burum (Bethesda, Md./Walt Whitman) recorded his second double-double of the season with 16 points and 10 boards.
With Burum, Franz and first-year center Christian MacAuley (Silver Spring, Md./Paint Branch) combining for 28 caroms, St. Mary's out-rebounded the Eagles by a 49 to 37 margin. MacAuley contributed 12 points and three blocks while sophomore guard Devin Spencer (Baltimore, Md./Towson Catholic) matched his season-best with 12 markers.
Mary Washington (11-3, 5-1 CAC) never trailed in the first half, leading by 11 (42-31) with 2:10 as junior guard Mike Harvey (East Berlin, Pa./Bermudian Springs) went 4-of-4 from the charity stripe. However, Spencer picked up five points in a 9-0 Seahawk run in the final two minutes to close the gap to 42-40 at halftime.
The Eagles held St. Mary's to just one three-point field goal (1-of-14) in the first half while Mary Washington connected on five rainmakers to stay one step ahead of the Seahawks.
The tables turned in the second stanza as Mary Washington's shooting percentage of 40.6% in the first half dropped to just 26.7% in the final 20 minutes while St. Mary's jumped from 42.4% to 54.3%.
The Seahawks (11-3, 5-0 CAC) outscored Mary Washington, 51-23, in the second half en route to their 26-point margin of victory. The visitors opened up the second half with a 5-0 spurt to claim their first lead of the game. From there, St. Mary's put together a 30-13 run to lead by 20 with 6:48 left in the game.
Four players scored in double-digits for the Eagles as first-year guard Bradley Riester (Richmond, Va./Monacan) had 14 points to lead the group. Junior forward Tad Dickman (Springfield, Va./Robert E. Lee) registered a double-double with 12 points and game-high 11 boards.
St. Mary's hopes to record its third straight victory this Saturday, January 15 as the Seahawks welcome conference newcomer, Frostburg State University, to campus. Tip-off is at 4:00 pm. St. Mary's looks to avenge a November 20 loss to Frostburg State in the Pride of Maryland championship game as the Bobcats denied St. Mary's a three-peat with a 56-54 setback.