The St. Mary’s College of Maryland men’s basketball team claimed third at the DeSales Casa Mia Holiday Tournament with their 86-67 victory against Immaculata University Saturday afternoon.  Junior guard Tyson Lesesne (Edgewood, MD/Edgewood) led the Seahawks with 22 points as Lesesne was 7-of-12 from the floor and a perfect 6-of-6 from the free throw line.

St. Mary’s (5-6) will carry this momentum with them on Wednesday night as the Seahawks resume Capital Athletic Conference action against York (Pa.) College in York, PA at 8:00.  Immaculata hopes pick up its second win of the season on January 11 against conference foe Gwynedd-Mercy at 7:00.

Immaculata staked a 5-0 lead in the opening 33 seconds of the game and controlled the contest for the first nine minutes before a 16-8 Seahawk run put St. Mary’s ahead for good.  With the Seahawks leading by six at 8:38, the Mighty Macs used a three-pointer by Dan Lepone and a pair of free throws from Kyle Finklea to come within one (29-28) in a span of 1:05.

The Seahawks used a 15-1 run to distance them from Immaculata and take a 41-34 halftime lead into the locker room.  Finklea, who was named to the All-Tournament Team, paced all players with his 15 first half points.  Finklea finished the game as the Mighty Macs leading scorer with 19.

Immaculata was unable to overcome its deficit in the second half as St. Mary’s 50.0% (5-10) shooting percentage from behind the arc proved to be the difference and the Seahawks led by double-digits for the remaining 10:21 following a tip-in by Lesesne.

SMCM’s biggest lead of 21 came with 28 ticks left on the clock as freshman guard Adam Harris (Baltimore, MD/Mergenthaler) connected on two free throws.

The Seahawks only missed on free throw the entire game, going 17-of-18 for 94.4%.  SMCM also finished with an impressive 46.7% from downtown and were paced by senior Valdez Preston (Turner Station, MD/Dundalk) and junior guard Mike Smelkinson (Elkridge, MD/Long Reach) as each connected on three treys apiece.

Smelkinson earned a spot on the All-Tournament Team as he contributed 18 today off the bench and finished the tournament with a total of 31 points.  The Long Reach native also dished out seven assists.  Senior guard Dan Engelstad (Bethesda, MD/Walt Whitman) added 15.  Sophomore Calvin Wise (Bel Air, MD/Calvert Hall) chipped in 11 and seven rebounds.

Jayson Hyman had 17 points, while Robert Jones collected 10 points and six rebounds for Immaculata.  The Mighty Macs finished the game shooting 38.7% from the floor, including 28.6% from downtown.