ARLINGTON, Va. – A strong second half that had the Saints outscoring the Captains by 10, boosted the Marymount men's basketball team past the reigning Capital Athletic Conference champion on Saturday afternoon with a 60-58 victory over Christopher Newport University.
Paced by a career-high day by sophomore Ibrahim Kamara, the Saints rallied from a 13-point deficit with 17:41 remaining in the game with a 33-18 run to holdout for the win. Kamara finished with a career- and game-high 20 points on 8-for-14 shooting, while grabbing a game-high 10 rebounds for his first double-double of the season, third of his two-year career.
Trailing by 13, the Saints started up their comeback with two free throws by Kamara. He would follow it up a minute later with a finish inside off a dish by senior Alex Danko. By the 15:54 mark, senior Dimitri Rucker got the deficit to single digits with the backend of two free throws before sophomore Taiga Walker forced a steal and a quick transition layup to move the score to 41-34.
Rucker continued to work in the paint, catching feeds from junior Brandon Rogers on back-to-back possessions for layups, then freshman Steve Etienne picked off a pass and converted on the other end with a tough finish inside to put the crowd on their feet and draw a Captain timeout as the score sat at 43-40.
Coming out of a useful break, CNU answered with two layups by Spencer Marin but not without Rogers answering with two long balls of his own to get Marymount within one, 47-46. On the next possession, the Saints earned their first lead since the first two points of the game when Etienne ripped came flying in on the backside of a missed layup attempt by Walker for the tip-in and the 48-47 lead with 8:43 remaining.
The lead would hold for over two minutes, but the Captains went on a run of their own, putting away seven-straight points to jump back ahead by six, 58-52, with less than four minutes left, but that was the last time CNU found the bottom of the hoop for the day.
Walker cut off the run with a jumper, but a huge block on the other end by Rucker on an Aaron McFarland attempt was the momentum the Saints needed to grind out the victory. Following a Marymount timeout, Etienne came up with another block for the Saints, again on McFarland who took a three-point attempt. On the other end, Rogers found Kamara to get within two.
In the closing two minutes, Etienne earned another steal while Walker converted in for two with a layup to draw the score even. Attempts for both teams down the stretch never found the bottom of the hoop. Instead, the deciding factor came at the free-throw line and on the defensive end.
With a deep jumper opportunity with 54 seconds left, Rogers was fouled and sent to the line where he knocked in both to take the 60-58 lead. On the other end, sophomore Chauncey Pittman eliminated a game-tying chance by the Captains, poking the ball out of the hands of CNU's Nick Parks and off his leg for the steal and turnover. The Captains earned one more chance with one second left, but another turnover sealed up the victory for the Saints.
The Saints move to 3-3 in league play, back into the top six of the CAC.
They will look to continue their momentum on the road next Wednesday, January 10, with a visit to Dover, Delaware against Wesley College. Tipoff is set for 8 p.m.