The University of Mary Washington men's basketball team dropped a 55-50 decision at Southern Virginia University on Wednesday night in Buena Vista, Va., to fall to 7-7 on the season.

The Eagles assumed the early lead, with junior forward Eric Shaw scoring the team's first eight points. A three pointer from senior John Lutkenhaus opened up a 14-8 advantage with 13:29 left in the half, but a 10-3 run from the Knights gave them an 18-17 lead with 7:59 remaining.

A 7-0 run by the Eagles, started by a three pointer from freshman Jamal Newton and capped by a dunk from Shaw, gave UMW a 24-18 lead with 4:45 left. An 8-3 Eagle run upped their lead to 32-23, with a late Southern Virginia basket cutting the halftime margin to 32-25.

In the second half, the Eagles slumped to 21% shooting from the floor, and the Knights began to whittle away at the lead. With Shaw on the bench in foul trouble, UMW held the hosts at arm's length for a time, with key baskets from freshman Austin Hall and sophomore Johnny Cronin keeping the Eagle advantage at seven, 41-34, with 14-33 left.

The Knights followed with a 12-2 run over the next seven minutes to take the lead for the first time in the half. A three pointer by Newton retied the score at 46-46 with 5:11 on the clock. Southern Va. would score the next two baskets before a Brent Mahoney layup made the score 50-48 with 3:23 to play. The Knights would connect on five of six free throws in the final minutes to hold on for the win.

Shaw led the Eagles with 14 points on 5-12 shooting from the field and a 4-4 performance from the free throw line. Sophomore guard Jacob Williams scored 10 points, and Shaw, Austin Hall, and Lutkenhaus each had six rebounds.

UMW shot 31% from the field (18-58), making 7-27 three point tries and 7-12 free throws. Southern Va. shot 38.9% from the field (21-54), and made 1-12 three point tries and 12-18 free throws.

Mary Washington will return home on Saturday when they host Wesley College in another CAC matchup starting at 3 p.m.