ST. MARY'S CITY, Md. - St. Mary's College jumped out to a 13-3 lead in the first five minutes of play Saturday evening and the Seahawks led the rest of the way to defeat Bridgewater College, 68-63, in the opening round of the Dan Greene Memorial Invitational hosted by the Seahawks.

Despite leading by double digits early, the Seahawks were unable to shake free of the Eagles. St. Mary's led by as many as 20 points in the second half but Bridgewater continued to battle and a late-game run cut the final margin to five points.

Back-to-back 3-pointers by Connor Jacobs and Kyle Depollar staked the hosts to a quick 6-0 lead before freshman Efe Balfour converted a three-point play to put Bridgewater on the board.

Five straight points from Donya Jackson and a jumper by Isaiah Martin pushed the lead to 13-3 with 14:46 left in the first half.

Another 3-ball by Jacobs put the Seahawks ahead 20-7 but two free throws by Kevin Saylor and inside buckets from Logan Seacrist and Balfour kept the Eagles in touch, trailing 20-13 with 10:43 left in the first half.

Bridgewater inched closer on two buckets from Romello Crowell and trailed by just five, 22-17, with 8:14 remaining.

The margin was still five, 31-26, when Keonte Dennis scored for the Eagles with 2:48 left, but the Seahawks closed with a 6-2 spurt to lead by nine, 37-28, at the break.

Balfour opened the second with a three-point play to cut the deficit to six before a 10-0 flurry, highlighted by a pair of 3-pointers from Tanner Brooks, gave St. Mary's a 47-31 lead.

The Seahawks pushed the margin to 20 points, 57-37, with 11 minutes remaining, but the Eagles continued to claw back and a 13-2 rally, capped by Cameron Thurston's layup, cut the deficit back to single digits, 59-50 with 5:43 left.

The lead hovered around the 10-point margin until Bridgewater outscored St. Mary's 8-2 in the final 15 seconds, cutting the Seahawks' final margin to 68-63.

The difference in the game came from beyond the arc where the Seahawks made 8-0f-20 shots while the Eagles connected on just 3-of-18.

Seacrist led the Eagles with 16 points on 7-of-10 shooting from the field. Balfour just missed a double-double in his first collegiate game as the Eagles freshman finished with 13 points and nine rebounds.

Brooks paced the winners with 18 points and Jackson added 11.