The University of Mary Washington men's basketball team overcame a slow start to down St. Mary's College of Md., 83-72, on Wednesday night at Ron Rosner Arena. The Eagles improve to 15-7 overall, and 7-4 in Capital Athletic Conference play.
St. Mary's started the game with a flourish, starting with a 12-2 run over the first 4:10. The Eagles started to chip away at the deficit, started by a Da' Shawn Cook three pointer, and baskets from senior Johnny Cronin and three from sophomore Mike Janowski cut the margin to 16-12 with 10:39 to play before halftime.
After a St. Mary's bucket, baskets from Cronin and Cook gave the Eagles a 19-18 advantage, and started an 18-0 run over the next five minutes. Janowski and Drew Johnson each hit a pair of three pointers in the run to lead the way.
After a St. Mary's three pointer, the teams traded free throws until an A.J. Robinson basket with 3:07 left pushed the Eagle lead to 39-23. The Seahawks answered with seven straight to end the half, pushing the score to 39-30.
In the second half, St. Mary's opened with a three pointer before junior Mark Madison answered with one of his own. St. Mary's scored the next basket to move to within five, but Cook scored five straight to return the margin to double figures. After the Seahawks scored six straight, Johnson hit a three pointer, and the teams battled back and forth over the next minutes. Freshman Greg Rowson began to heat up from there, scoring a three pointer, and Cronin made a pair of interior baskets to hold the Seahawks at bay.
Rowson connected on three more three pointers to extend the lead to 13, at 75-62, with 2:13 remaining, and a pair of Cronin baskets held the double figure lead. Cook drained four free throws in the final minute, giving UMW the 11-point win.
Rowson led alls corers with 23 points, while Cronin scored 16, Cook 15, and Janowski 11. Cook led UMW with nine rebounds and five assists.
UMW shot 27-67 from the floor (40.3%), making 14-43 three point tries and 15-17 free throws. St. Mary's shot 27-49 form the floor (55.1%), making 8-16 three pointers and 10-17 free throws. UMW held a 38-31 edge in rebounds, and forced 17 SMC turnovers.
The Eagles will be back in action on Saturday when they host Penn State Harrisburg in the final regular season home game of the season. Tipoff is set for 3:00 p.m.