Senior Eric Shaw scored 22 points, 16 in the first half, to lead the University of Mary Washington men's basketball team past St. Mary's, 68-54, on Wednesday night. The Eagles improve to 15-5 overall, and 9-4 in the CAC.
The Eagles had it going early on as they started the game out with the first six points, four from Shaw and two from Cronin just 2:01 into the game. The Seahawks responded and went on a 7-0 run to take the lead 7-6 with 15:15 remaining in the half. From there the Eagles hit two straight three-pointers, one from Drew Johnson and the other from A.J. Robinson to put the Eagles back up 12-7 with 14:36 left.
UMW grew the lead to seven, 17-10, as Shaw made two free throws with 12:49 remaining. St. Mary's cut it to two, 20-18, with 10:13 left. Shaw nailed a three-pointer with 7:23 left to stretch out the lead to five, 25-20.
After a Seahawk layup with 7:22 left, the Eagles went on a 6-0 run to go up 31-22 that was capped on a layup from Johnny Cronin. Junior Jacob Williams ended the scoring for both teams with two minutes left as he hit a three-pointer and the Eagles went into the half up 34-29.
St. Mary's came out of the second half and cut the lead to three, 34-31. A jumper by Shaw and a layup from Cronin pushed the lead to seven, 38-31, with 17:36 left. The Eagles added to their advantage as Robinson netted a three-pointer to make it 44-36 with 14:17 remaining in the game.
Khiorie Stewart made a layup with 12:31 left to maintain the lead at eight, 49-41. The Seahawks made a quick layup right after that to cut it to six, 49-43. Over the next 5:16, the Eagles went on a 9-0 run that broke open the game and gave them a 58-43 lead.
St. Mary's tried to mount a comeback as they got it to within eight, 61-53, with 4:32 left but then UMW scored seven straight to bring the lead back to 15, 68-53, on a Williams layup. The Seahawks made a late free throw and the Eagles dribbled it out to secure the win 68-54.
Robinson finished with 13 points and a career-high nine assists on the night. Stewart added 12 off the bench and Cronin went 5-8 from the field to score 11 points. Shaw shot 9-10 from the free throw line and secured four rebounds, dished out three assists, and recorded four steals. Matt Ayoub led the Seahawks in scoring with 12 points.
The Eagles shot 42.9% (24-56) from the field, making 9-25 three-pointers, and 11-16 free throws. The Seahawks shot 46.3% (19-41) from the field, making 7-14 three-pointers, and 9-15 free throws. The Eagles dished out 18 assists and recorded 15 steals.
UMW will be back in action on Saturday as they will take on Penn St.-Harrisburg at 3 p.m. on Hall of Fame Day.