Trailing by 13 points at halftime, the University of Mary Washington men's basketball team opened the second half on a 20-6 run to take the lead, and extended that margin for an 83-75 Capital Athletic Conference victory at Frostburg State University on Friday night. The Eagles improve to 5-2 on the season, and move to 3-0 in CAC play, while the Bobcats fall to 5-2 and 1-1.

The Eagles shot the ball well in the first half, but turnovers proved costly, and Frostburg connected on more than 50% of its shots in the opening frame to lead, 48-35, at halftime. But the strong Eagles defense and some key second half three pointers would bring the Eagles all the way back. UMW opened the second half with baskets from E.J. Willis (Alexandria, Va., T.C. Williams), J.R. Gray (Staunton, Va., Robert E. Lee), and Ryan Farrar (Ashburn, Va., Centreville, Va.), before Matt Boward (Manassas, Va., Forest Park) hit a three-pointer to cut the deficit to single digits at 52-44 with 16:37 left in the game. 

A pair of Boward free throws and a three-point play from Walt Smith cut the score to 52-49, and another Smith bucket cut the deficit to one. After a Frostburg score, Boward hit two free throws and a jumper to give UMW the lead at 55-54. The lead would change hands several times, but a Boward three with 7:00 remaining gave UMW a 70-67 lead, one that they would not again relinquish.

Frostburg would get to within one at 73-72 with less than three minutes left, but a Bradley Riester (Richmond, Va., Monacan) three pointer returned the margin to four, and the Eagles saw Reister sink four free throws down the stretch. Willis capped the scoring with a slam dunk just before the final buzzer after a Smith steal.

The Eagles saw Boward lead the way with 21 points, while Willis scored 16 and Smith 11. Boward led UMW with six rebounds, and Smith led with six assists and three steals.

UMW will host Christopher Newport University on December 13 at 5:00 p.m.