ST. MARY'S CITY, Md. – The Salisbury University men's basketball team led at halftime at St. Mary's (Md.) College on Wednesday night and held an advantage through the first few minutes of the second half, but it was not enough as the Seahawks claimed a 59-42 Capital Athletic Conference win.

After St. Mary's opened the game with a 5-0 spurt, Salisbury (12-10, 5-8 CAC) put together a 9-0 run, bookended by jumpers from junior center Trent Epps. A layup from senior Mike Atkins and a three-pointer from senior Devin Posey in the run allowed the Gulls to take a 9-5 lead six minutes into the game.

The Salisbury lead grew to as many as seven when senior Mike Maczko hit a jumper with 9:17 left in the first half to make it 14-7.

The Sea Gulls held onto the lead until a 6-0 run over two and a half minutes by St. Mary's (17-6, 11-3 CAC) tied the game at 19-19. A layup from senior Jason Nwosu with 1:52 showing on the clock allowed Salisbury to pull ahead again and the Gulls would take a 25-21 advantage into halftime.

After the Seahawks tied the game early in the second half Posey hit a layup to give Salisbury a 29-27 lead with 16:21 left in the contest, but it would be the last lead the Sea Gulls would hold as St. Mary's rattled off a 12-0 run to open up a 10-point lead.

Freshman Chris Viqueira led the way for Salisbury with 12 points, two shy of his career high, on 5-of-6 shooting from the floor. He was the only Sea Gull in double figures as Epps finished with eight.

Salisbury made just four trips to the free-throw line in the game, but connected on all four marking the sixth time in program history that the team was perfect from the line in a game.

Devin Spencer and Brendan McFall led the Seahawks with 16 points apiece.

The Sea Gulls will be back in action on Saturday, Feb. 11 as they travel to Frostburg State University.