Salisbury, Md. – Wednesday night's Capital Athletic Conference men's basketball contest between No. 15 St. Mary's College of Maryland and host Salisbury University came down to the wire. And when all was said and done, Salisbury came out with an upset 61-58 victory over the nationally-ranked Seahawks.
With 1.4 seconds remaining in regulation, St. Mary's senior guard Alex Franz (Catonsville, Md./Cardinal Gibbons) knotted the game at 61-all but his three-pointer was waved off because of a timeout called by a Seahawk on the other side of the court.
After our timeout, Salisbury called one as well. Then St. Mary's called back-to-back timeouts as the team struggled to get the ball back in play. Once the ball was finally put into play, Franz's long-range goal at the buzzer went wide left.
The loss drops St. Mary's (18-5, 12-2 CAC) to second while Wesley College (16-6, 12-1 CAC) takes over the top spot with a one-point victory over Marymount (Va.) University. St. Mary's welcomes the Wesley Wolverines to the Michael P. O'Brien Athletics & Recreation Center Arena this Saturday, February 12 at 4:00 pm and will look to avenge their January 17 loss at Wesley.
Senior center Sam Burum (Bethesda, Md./Walt Whitman) paced the Seahawks in the loss with 16 points and five rebounds while Franz finished with 15 points and game-best nine boards. Sophomore guard Chris Hutchinson (Owings Mills, Md./New Town) added 10 points and four caroms.
After a 6-0 start by the Sea Gulls (10-12, 5-8 CAC), first-year center Christian MacAuley (Silver Spring, Md./Paint Branch) connected with Franz for a high-flying dunk that sparked a 9-3 Seahawk run. The teams battled for the rest of the first half as the game was tied five times before a 7-0 run gave St. Mary's its biggest lead of the half – 34-27 at 2:10 on a three-pointer by Franz. Salisbury cut to the lead to three for a 34-31 Seahawk lead at break.
Senior center Chris McGrew (Burtonsville, Md./Paint Branch) led four Sea Gulls in double digit scoring with 19 points while hauling in a game-best nine rebounds. Senior guard David Pearman (Columbia, Md./Oakland Mills) added 16 points while juniors Mike Atkins (Annapolis, Md./Broadneck) and Mike Maczko (Bel Air, Md./John Carroll) each chipped in 10.
Salisbury shot 55.6 percent from downtown while limiting the Seahawks to just one three-pointer in the second half to outscore the visitors, 30-24. The Sea Gulls started the second half with a 20-10 run to post its biggest lead of the game – a seven-point margin with 9:22 left as Pearman drilled three long-range goals, including a pair in consecutive Salisbury possessions.
St. Mary's reclaimed the lead at 3:28 on a Burum layup off an assist by sophomore guard Devin Spencer (Baltimore, Md./Towson Catholic) but missed field goals in consecutive possessions allowed the Sea Gulls regain a four-point lead with 49 seconds left.