Frederick, Md. – There were 11 lead changes in Monday night's Capital Athletic Conference matchup between No. 16 St. Mary's College of Maryland and Hood College.  Luckily, the last lead change at 12:05 following three straight three-pointers by sophomore guard Devin Spencer (Baltimore, Md./Towson Catholic) was in the Seahawks' favor and St. Mary's held on for a 71-67 victory over Hood in the team's third meeting of the season.

St. Mary's (16-4, 10-1 CAC) won all three contests against Hood (10-9, 6-5 CAC) this season and pulled ahead of idle Wesley College in the conference standings with Monday's win.  The Seahawks are now 4-2 in games where they have trailed at halftime as St. Mary's trailed by two tonight.

Spencer finished the night by matching career-highs of 14 points and four long-range goals (half of the team's eight three-pointers).  Senior captain Sam Burum (Bethesda, Md./Walt Whitman) dropped in 17 points and grabbed seven rebounds while sophomore guard Chris Hutchinson (Owings Mills, Md./New Town) supported the offense with 10 scores.

Following an early Hood lead, the Seahawks used a 7-2 run to boast their biggest lead of the first half, 13-8, at 15:28.  The Blazers benefited from junior center Herb Bowen's (King of Prussia, Pa./Episcopal Academy) play as Bowen's two three-pointers helped Hood snag the lead for the remainder of the first stanza, leading by nine with 8:06 left.  However, St. Mary's put together a 13-6 run to close out the half and cut the home team's lead to 32-30 at halftime.

Spencer's three straight long-range bombs spurred a reclaiming of the lead by the Seahawks with 12:05 to go in the game.  St. Mary's grew its lead to 11 (63-52) less than seven minutes later but the Blazers continued to hang around.  Hood came up with an 11-4 run of their own to close the gap to 67-63 with 41 seconds left on the clock but the Seahawks pulled out the win as Spencer converted two free throws (00:26) and Burum finished off a pass from Spencer (00:12) to seal the victory.

First-year forward Cameron Cook (Baltimore, Md./Calvert Hall) paced the Blazers with a game-bet 18 points while senior center Tyler Snoots (Frederick, Md./Gov. Thomas Johnson) added 15 and junior guard Brenden Straughn (New Carrollton, Md./Eleanor Roosevelt) chipped in 10 points and eight assists.

The Seahawks return to action Wednesday, February 2 with a league road game at York (Pa.) College.  Tip-off is at 8:00 pm.  In its first meeting of the season with York on December 8, St. Mary's needed overtime to post an 81-77 victory.