Salisbury, Md. – Despite a late push from Salisbury, the Marymount men's basketball team hung on to claim another CAC win on Wednesday night, downing the Seagulls, 60-56. The Saints improve to 12-2 on the season and 6-1 in conference action.
Though the host struck first with a triple in the game's opening ticks, Marymount countered with an 8-1 run to take a four-point lead, 8-4. Salisbury (8-6, 4-3) answered with a pair of free throws and a drive to the hoop to knot the game at 8-8 early in the opening frame.
The Saints deftly retook their lead in the next possession and pushed the advantage to 14-11, though Salisbury would convert a layup to crawl back within one.
From there, Marymount went on another run, this time a 13-4 burst that gave the Saints their largest lead of the half at ten points, 27-17.
Salisbury was able to get as close as six before halftime, as a layup and two free throws closed the gap to 27-21 with 2:34 left before the break.
The Saints continued their assault until the buzzer sounded – eventually towing a comfortable 32-23 lead into halftime.
The teams traded threes to open the second half, with senior Jesse Konadu responding to the Seagulls' opening triple to regain the Saints' nine-point advantage.
After Marymount pushed the lead back to double digits, 40-28, two consecutive three-pointers from the host once again decreased the deficit to six, 40-34.
Leading 45-36, Marymount suffered a 12-4 Salisbury run, which propelled the Gulls to within only one point, 49-48 – the closest deficit since the 8:14 mark in the first half.
The Saints responded urgently with a 7-2 run to take a 56-50 lead, but Salisbury was not about to surrender so easily. With just 20 seconds left, the Gulls notched a triple to slash the deficit to just three. After two Saint free throws – courtesy of Michael Anderson – the host once again found the stroke from beyond the arc, cutting the score to 58-56 with only four ticks left.
Two more Marymount free throws, however – this time from Konadu – would cap the game.
Konadu led the Saints with 18 points and nine rebounds in the effort, while Anderson chipped in ten points to round out the attack.
Marymount returns to Arlington, Va., on Saturday as it hosts CAC foe Christopher Newport (11-3, 6-1). The conference tilt is slated to begin at 4 p.m.