The University of Mary Washington men's basketball team saw four players score double digit points in their victory over St. Mary's College, 79-67, on Wednesday evening in St. Mary's, MD. Frehsman Greg Rowson led the team with 18 points, senior Johnn Cronin had 18 points, sophomore Drew Johnson added 13 points, and freshman Da'Shawn Cook scored 12 points. The Eagles improve to 12-4 overall, and 4-1 in the CAC.
The Eagles came out on fire as they scored the first nine points of the game over the first 1:24. Greg Rowson began the game by knocking down a technical free throw, then Mark Madison and Da'Shawn Cook both knocked down three-pointers and Madison ended the run with a layup. St. Mary's creeped back into the game and got it within five, 11-6, with 15:39 to play.
UMW grew their lead to double digits, 18-7, after Johnny Cronin pulled down an offensive rebound and made a layup with 11:34 remaining. A Serge Ekpuk made layup and a Rowson three-pointer grew the Eagles' lead to 16, 28:12, with 7:11 to go in the half.
UMW held their largest lead of 18 with 4:49 to play, but then the Seahawks scored five straight to put the game at 32-19. Jacob Williams scooped home a layup to end the half and UMW had a 40-26 lead at halftime.
Over the first 3:04 of the second half, the two teams traded buckets but a three-pointer from the Seahawks got the lead down to nine, 46-37. Drew Johnson buried a three-pointer to put UMW back up 49-37. St. Mary's then went on a 9-2 run to get within five, 51-46, with 12:04 remaining.
Johnson knocked down two three-pointers, and then Cronin made a layup to put the Eagles back up double digits, 59-49. UMW upped their lead to 13, 70-57, on another Cronin layup with 5:21 to play. The Eagles maintained their lead and went up 14, 76-62, on two Rowson free throws with just 1:42 left in the game. UMW closed the game out with a couple of free throws and held on to win 79-67.
UMW shot 29-67 (43.3%) from the field, 10-36 (27.8%) from three-point range, and 11-15 (73.3%) from the free throw line. The Eagles out rebounded the Seahawks 35-32, dished out 20 assists, and generated 14 steals.
UMW will be back in action on Saturday as they will host York at 3 p.m.