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Saunders, Welch Lift UMW Men to Albright Tourney Title With 85-69 Victory

Saunders, Welch Lift UMW Men to Albright Tourney Title With 85-69 Victory

Tournament Most Valuable Player Anias Saunders (Culpeper, Va.) and all-tournament selection Riley Welch (Springfield, Va.) each scored 30 points to lead the Univeristy of Mary Washington men's basketball team to an 85-69 victory at Albright College in the championship of the Albright Holiday Tournament on Thursday in Reading, Pa. The Eagles improve to 12-3 on the season.

As was the case in Wednesday's win over Goucher, a red hot first half was the Eagles' key to victory on Thursday, as UMW raced to a 20-point halftime lead. The Eagles jumped ahead early, as Saunders scored the first seven points of the contest, and another basket gave the Eagles their first double-digit lead of the day, at 15-5, with 16:19 remaining. After an Emmanuel Aghayere basket with 14:38 left, the Eagle lead grew to 20-5. A basket from Andrew Rowson with 8:45 remaining extended the lead to 20, at 34-14, and held that margin to intermission with a 48-28 advantage. 

In the second half, UMW started hot again, with a Welch three pointer with 14:45 remaining pushing their margin to 30 points, at 67-37, a lead they would control comfortably the rest of the day.

Welch scored 30 points on 10-20 shooting, making 8-16 three point attempts, and both of his free throws. Saunders made his way to 30 by shooting 11-19 from the field, making 5-11 three pointers and all three of his free throw tries.

The Eagles shot 51.6% (32-62), making 14-35 three pointers and 7-7 on free throws. Albright shot 43.5% (27-62), making 12-31 three point tries and 3-7 free throws. The Eagles led in rebounding, 40-29.

UMW will be back in action on Tuesday when the Eagles visit Catholic University at 5:00 p.m.