The University of Mary Washington men's basketball team jumped out to an early lead, saw it slip away momentarily, but bounced back in the end for a 66-64 victory over first-place Marymount University in Capital Athletic Conference action on Saturday at the Anderson Center for its first victory of the year. Junior John Lutkenhaus scored 18 points off the bench, and freshman Eric Shaw added 15 as the Eagles handed the Saints their first league loss of the season.
Shaw was the catalyst early for UMW, scoring the team's first six points, as the Eagle defense held the Saints to three points in the opening 4:19. After six straight points gave Marymount a 9-6 lead, the Eagles reeled off 16 straight points, led by a pair of Matt Forrest three pointers, and threes from Lutkenhaus and Miguel Kissoon, to take a 22-9 lead with 8:46 left in the first half. The Saints rallied with seven straight points to cut the deficit to six, at 22-16, but a three pointer from sophomore Brent Mahoney returned the lead to nine, but again Marymount answered, cutting the deficit to four at 28-24 with 3:37 on the clock.
Six points from sophomore Emerson Burk propelled the Eagles on a 9-1 spurt to up the lead to 37-25 with 1:49 to play in the half, but Marymount scored the final three points to give the Eagles a 37-28 lead at intermission.
Shaw again got the Eagles started with a basket to open the second half, but Marymount used an 8-0 run to cut the score to 39-36 with 15:32 left in the game. The Saints cut the deficit to one, at 40-39, but nine straight Eagle points from Lutkenhaus returned the lead to five at 49-44 with 11:31 to play.
The Saints whittled away at the mmargin and tied the score at 53-53 with 6:17 remaining, and took the leadone minute later at 55-53. A dunk from Shaw tied the score, and after a Marymount layup, senior Taylor Johnson connected on four straight free throws to give UMW the lead at 59-57 with 3:28 left.
Marymount scored four straight points to regain the lead at 61-59 on a Michael Anderson layup with 2:16 remaining, but Lutkenhaus provided his biggest basket with a three pointer with 53 seconds left, and UMW never trailed again. Johnson hit a pair of free throws with 23 seconds left to up the lead to four, at 65-61, but Jesse Konadu answered with a three pointer to cut the deficit to one, 65-64, with five seconds left.
Shaw was fouled immediately and made one free throw, and the last second pass to the post was stolen by Asa Scott to preserve the win.
The Eagles shot 43.6% from the floor (21-48), making 8-21 three pointers, and went 16-23 from the free throw line. Marymount shot 43.6% as well (24-55), making 4-12 three pointers, and was 12-18 from the line. Both teams had 32 rebounds and committed 13 turnovers.
Lutkenhaus scored 18 points on 5-8 shooting from the floor, making three three pointers, and was 5-6 from the line. Shaw scored 15 on 7-11 shooting. Johnson scored nine points and grabbed a team-high seven rebounds with a team-high five assists, and surpassed the 500-rebound plateau for his career.
The Eagles will return to action on Wednesday when they host Salisbury University at 8 p.m. in another CAC contest.