ARLINGTON, Va. - A dominant first 20 minutes helped Catholic (5-1) build a 16-point advantage before holding on for a 72-69 victory at Marymount (5-2) on Tuesday night. 

Sean Neylon continued a brilliant start to the season, scoring 19 of his game-high 22 points as the Cardinals built a 44-28 halftime lead. 

Neylon hit three triples in the first 5:21 of the contest as Catholic built a 13-8 edge. Neylon hit a two-point jumper off an Ethan Hinds assist at the 9:04 mark of the first half, pushing the Cardinals ahead by double digits for the first time. 

CJ Ruoff put the Cardinals up by 14 with 7:48 to go in the opening half before Neyon scored again at the 7:16 mark to make it 30-15 in favor of the Cardinals. Jamie Ntiamoah scored with 1:38 left in the half to put Catholic back up by 15 before a Joshua Hughes turnover led to Neylon's fourth three of the half to give Catholic an 18-point lead. 

The Cardinals led by as many as 19 with 15:53 remaining after a Charley Hepting free throw before a Marymount 12-3 run cut the lead back down to 10 with 13:10 to play. 

A Brian Herbert bucket and a Justin Green free throw had Catholic back up by 13 with 11:50 to play before Marymount trimmed the gap back to single digits with 7:59 left. Ruoff pushed it back to 11 with a pair of free throws and the Catholic lead never dropped below nine until there were less than two minutes to play. 

Marymount made things very interesting down the stretch, closing out the contest on an 11-3 run and pulling within one with 10 seconds to play, but Herbert knocked down a pair of clutch free throws and Miles Phillips jumper to tie it before the buzzer didn't fall. 

QUICK HITTERS

• The reigning Landmark Conference Player of the Week, Neylon, made it four straight games with 20 or more points as he now averages 19.5 points per game on 56 percent shooting and 55 percent from distance.
• Herbert set a new career-high with 19 points as he has scored 12 or more points in every game this season. The junior is averaging 15.2 points per game and is a team-best 28-33 from the charity stripe. 
• Ntiamoah reached double figures for the third time this season, pushing his average to an even 10 points per game. 
• Knocking down 51.1 percent of its shots in the contest, Aaron Kelly's team has made 50 percent or better of its shots in four of six games. 

Catholic will enjoy the Thanksgiving break before playing its home opener versus Susquehanna on Wednesday, December 4 at 7 p.m.