The St. Mary’s College men’s basketball team survived a 18-6 run by Gallaudet University in the middle stages of the second half on their way to securing an 83-77 Capital Athletic Conference (CAC) victory over the Bison on Wednesday evening. With the win, the Seahawks end a two-game skid and improve to 7-8 overall and 2-3 in the conference. The Bison fall to 8-7 overall and 2-3 in the CAC with the loss.
Sophomore guard Tyson Lesesne (Edgewood, MD/Edgewood) gave the Seahawks their largest lead of the contest at 59-46 with 11:29 remaining after sinking two free throws. That is when Gallaudet kicked it into another gear and started their comeback attempt.
The Bison made their 18-6 run to cut the deficit to just 65-64 with 5:51 showing on the clock. Senior forward Frank Jackson paced the comeback with eight points while senior guard Robert Haney Jr. added four points during the run.
St. Mary’s responded by pushing the lead back to seven points before Gallaudet narrowed it back to three with 1:51 remaining. The Seahawks again answered by extending the lead to eight points and had the Bison cut it to four at 77-73 with 46 seconds remaining.
That would be as close as the Bison would get in the final minute as St. Mary’s connected on a fast-break lay-up and hit all four of their free throws in the final minute of play to secure the win.
Lesesne posted game-highs with 27 points and seven assists for St. Mary’s. Sophomore guard Dan Engelstad (Bethesda, MD/Whitman) and freshman center Calvin Wise (Bel Air, MD/Calvert Hall) each added 13 points while senior forward Tommy Bushell (Gaithersburg, MD/Gaithersburg) posted ten points with six rebounds.
Haney Jr. led the Bison with 19 points and five assists while Jackson added 16 points and a game-high eight rebounds with four steals. Sophomore guard Matthew Eby was the only other Bison player to reach double figures as he posted 13 points on 5-of-6 shooting from the field with five rebounds.
The Seahawks will travel to Salisbury University on Saturday afternoon in an attempt to reach the .500 mark. The game against the Sea Gulls is scheduled to begin at 4:00 p.m.
St. Mary’s College Sophomore guard Allison Hartnett (Dobbs Ferry, NY/Dobbs Ferry) scored 20 points on 7-for-8 shooting from the field and was one of four players in double figures in leading the St. Mary’s College women’s basketball team to an 85-58 Capital Athletic Conference (CAC) victory over Gallaudet on Wednesday evening. With the win, the Seahawks improved to 6-10 overall and 1-4 in the conference while the Bison fell to 2-13 overall and 0-5 in league play.
Despite a slow 1-10 start from the field to begin the contest, the Seahawks built a 13-point lead at halftime and were never threatened in the second half. St. Mary’s pushed their advantage to 31 points with 7:26 remaining before ending up with the 27 point victory.
Freshman forward Allie Scott (Laurel, MD/Atholton) scored 18 points and collected a team-high seven rebounds for the Seahawks. Sophomore forward Lisa Daciek (Laurel, MD/Atholton) posted 13 points and dished out four assists while sophomore guard Taylor Yearwood (Washington DC/Holy Cross Academy) was the fourth player in double figures with 12 points.
Freshman guard Kallie Williams scored a game-high 21 points for Gallaudet. Freshman guard Kari Olney added 11 points while senior forward Johanna Karmgard scored 10 points with seven rebounds. Junior forward Jessica Salisbury posted eight points and collected a game-high ten rebounds in the losing effort.