St. Mary's City, Md. – Senior captain Alex Franz (Catonsville, Md./Cardinal Gibbons) put on a career performance as No. 13 St. Mary's College of Maryland posted an 81-74 Capital Athletic Conference victory over Salisbury University Wednesday night to remain on top of the conference standings.
Franz tallied a career-high 32 points on 10-of-18 shooting, including a career-best five three-pointers, while going 7-of-8 from the charity stripe. He also added six rebounds, four assists, and four steals on the night. In dishing out four assists, Franz eclipsed the 500-assist mark and now has 501 career assists. The 6-1 guard became the school's all-time assist leader last season as he passed Dan Engelstad '07 career mark of 413 at the end of his junior campaign.
Along with Franz reaching his historic milestone, sixth-year head coach Chris Harney '97 was recognized for a career achievement as well with a plaque presentation before the start of the contest for gaining his 100th career win. Harney collected his 100th career win on December 18th with an 89-80 victory over Lawrence University. Then, with the Seahawks' win at Marymount (Va.) University on January 5th, Harney became the all-time wins leader and now owns 104 career wins, passing former coach, Ed Cole's (1966-67, 1969-74) mark of 100.
Harney on his 100th career win, "I am very humbled at this recognition but me reaching this milestone is really a community effort. I can't even begin to name and thank everyone that has contributed to my 100th win – from the players during my six-year tenure to my co-workers to the Seahawk student section and the fans."
Junior guard James Davenport (Owings Mills, Md./Loyola Blakefield) joined Franz in double-digit scoring with 12 points as Davenport went 4-of-7 from downtown.
St. Mary's (13-4, 7-1 CAC) owned a 38-30 halftime advantage as Franz led all scorers with 16 points. The Seahawks led by as many as 17 in the first half but senior guard Eric Johnson's (Silver Spring, Md./Springbrook) 11 first-half points helped the Sea Gulls cut the deficit to eight at the break.
Salisbury (7-10, 2-6 CAC) featured three players scoring in double figures and outscored the hosts, 44-43, in the second half but the Sea Gulls were only able to close the gap to seven at five different points in the final 20 minutes. Senior center Chris McGrew (Burtonsville, Md./Paint Branch) paced his team with 17 points while junior guard Mike Atkins (Annapolis, Md./Broadneck) contributed 16 off the bench.
St. Mary's hopes to continue its winning ways Saturday, January 22 as the Seahawks welcome Stevenson University to town for a conference tilt at 4:00 pm. In their first meeting of the season, St. Mary's notched a 113-88 win over the host Mustangs.