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UMW Men's Basketball Survives Wednesday Night Scare on Blue's Last Second Shot

Photo: Dan Hunter // D3 Photography
Photo: Dan Hunter // D3 Photography

The Mary Washington men's basketball team (16-8) survived a thriller against Salisbury on Wednesday night in Salisbury, Md., 65-64. 

The Eagles, who led by 11 at the end of the first half, trailed by nine with under two minutes left in Wednesday's game before they went on to score the final 10 points -- six of which came from senior Zack Blue. With two seconds left, Blue drove through a pair of Sea Gull defenders, spinning under the basket and laid the basketball in the hoop to give the Eagles their final lead of the night, 65-64.

Salisbury, meanwhile, missed a 3-pointer with under a second on the clock left, which gave UMW the victory.

Mary Washington made half of its shots in the first half -- 14-of-28 -- and held Salisbury to just a 9-of-24 clip (37.5%) from the floor, taking a 43-32 lead into the halftime break. 

But it was Salisbury who made the correct halftime adjustments as it scored 30 points in the first 10 minutes of the second half before the Eagles' defense finally caught up -- holding Salisbury to just 11 points in the final 10 minutes and scoreless in the final 2:19.

It was Blue who led the Eagles back, scoring a trio of the last five Eagles' baskets, and even assisted on another. In the final minute, Blue recorded a pair of steals, refusing the Sea Gulls to even shoot the basketball

For the evening, Blue led UMW in scoring with 15 points, while Jay Randall (11) and Trey Pittman (10) each reached double figures for the Eagles. Daniel Peterson meanwhile, had a team-high seven boards.

As a team, Mary Washington shot 27-of-56 (48.2%), outshooting Salisbury, who was 23-of-53 (43.4%) on Wednesday.

The Eagles are back in action on Saturday against Hampden-Sydney in Farmville, Va., tip-off is set for 2 p.m.