The University of Mary Washington men's basketball team dropped a 58-54 decision to 14th-ranked St. Mary's College on Wednesday night in Capital Athletic Conference action. UMW falls to 7-9 overall and 1-4 in CAC play.
UMW matched the Seahawks throughout the first half, as the Seahawks five-point advantage (12-7) with 11:57 remaining was the largest lead for either team in the frame. From that point, junior guard Dylan Farinet made a layup and stole the ball and layed in another bucket to cut the deficit to one, and a Sean Armstrong free throw with 9:41 to play tied the score. After SMC returned the lead to four over the next several minutes, the Eagles again tied the score at 22 with 2:43 left on a Taylor Johnson layup. SMC led by three in the final seconds, but Farinet capped the half with a long three pointer to tie the score at 29.
The Seahawks started the second half on a 10-0 run, leading 39-29 with 17:08 left. The Eagles chipped away and cut the deficit to two at 41-39 with 11:11 left, but the Seahawks answered with five straight points to return the lead to seven with 9:53 to go. A layup by E.J. Willis with 15 seconds left cut the deficit to three, and a late free throw by the Seahawks accounted for the final 58-54 score.
The Seahawks shot 43% for the day (23-53), while UMW shot just 30.8% (16-52), and went just 5-24 on three point attempts. The Eagles did force 20 Seahawk turnovers, holding SMC to 12 points under their season average.
Taylor Johnson led the Eagles with 12 points, and Armstrong scored 10 for the Eagles with eight rebounds. Willis had eight off the bench for the Eagles. St. Mary's was led by Nick Laguerre's 16 points and Brendan McFall's 12.
The Eagles will return to action on Saturday when they visit York College at 3 p.m.