Sophomore Riley Welch and Freshman Greg Rowson each scored 16 points a piece to lead the University of Mary Washington men's basketball team past Southern Virginia University, 66-41, on Wednesday evening in Buena Vista, VA. The Eagles improve to 17-7 overall and 9-4 in the CAC.
Rowson began the game with a three-pointer just 25 seconds in take an early 3-0 lead. SVU then went on a 9-0 run to take a 9-3 lead with 15:42 to play. That is when Welch subbed into the game and knocked down two straight three-pointers. Mike Janowski then hit a three-pointer to put UMW ahead 12-9 with 12:51 left.
Drew Johnson knocked down a jump shot to extend the Eagles' lead to four, 17-13. With 6:36 remaining in the first half, the Knights regained the lead 20-19 after a made jump shot. Rowson then went on a 7-0 run by himself and helped UMW retake the lead 26-20 with 4:18 left. The Eagles managed to maintain that lead and take a 32-27 lead into the half.
Johnny Cronin started the second half with a quick layup and then SVU followed it up with one of its own. From there, UMW held the Knights scoreless for the next 6:26. They took advantage in that time and found themselves up 43-28 with 13:08 remaining.
After an SVU layup to put the game at 44-34 with 11:23 to play, UMW then played terrific defense again as they managed to hold the Knights scoreless over the next 6:08. Again the Eagles took advantage and were up 21, 55-34, after Welch completed a three-point play. Johnson knocked down a three-pointer with 3:37 to play that gave UMW a 63-39 lead. UMW held on from there and won the game 66-41.
Cronin finished with six points and hauled in 10 rebounds. Da'Shawn Cook had eight points, and Johnson added seven points. UMW's defense played a big part in this victory as they held SVU to 15-54 (27.8%) shooting from the floor.
The Eagles will travel to York in a key CAC matchup at 3 p.m. in Saturday afternoon. The Eagles will look to sweep York on the season.