FREDERICKSBURG, Va.--The sixth-seeded Hood College men's basketball team (16-11) came up just short in its quest to advance to the Capital Athletic Conference championship game, falling 56-54 to the second-seeded University of Mary Washington Eagles (18-8) Thursday evening.

UMW's Bradley Reister, who ranks fifth in the CAC in three-pointers made, drilled his third trey of the game with 18 seconds remaining which proved to be the game-winner to lift the Eagles over the Blazers in a furious back-and-forth affair.

Hood raced out of the gates to take an 11-4 lead in the opening minutes and the Eagles, the CAC leader in three-point shooting, struggled from beyond the arc, misfiring on their first six attempts. Chad Canady knocked down UMW's first triple at the 12:47 mark which ignited a 24-7 run the remainder of the half and the hosts led by 10, 28-18, at halftime.

Hood chipped away at the double-figure deficit and eventually regained the lead, 35-34, on a conventional three-point play by Reggie Daniels with 11:50 left in regulation.

Over the final 10:21, the seesaw affair featured six ties and eight lead changes. A Trey Quinn putback off of a Cameron Cook miss gave Hood a 54-53 lead with 27.7 seconds remaining and Hood called a timeout. On the Eagles' next possession, Walt Smith found Reister on the perimeter for the go-ahead triple and the Eagles called timeout.

Out of the break, the Blazers turned the ball over under their own basket, just their sixth miscue of the period. After UMW called back-to-back timeouts, the Blazers caught a break when UMW's Mike Harvey stepped out of bounds, giving Hood a shot to tie or win the game at the buzzer. But Brenden Straughn's jumper rimmed out and the Eagles eked out the win.

Ramon Smith led all scorers with 25 points while Justin Stone, Cook and Lavar Rich chipped in six points apiece. UMW's starting five combined to shoot 6-of-33 from the floor as the Eagle bench scored 41 of its 56 points on the night.

The Eagles will host the fourth-seeded York College (Pa.) Spartans in the title game Saturday. York upset the top-seeded and two-time defending champion St. Mary's College (Md.) Seahawks in St. Mary's City, 61-58.