ST MARY'S CITY, Md. – The Salisbury University men's basketball team saved its best for the final minutes in its Wednesday night clash with St Mary's (Md.), taking down the Seahawks 77-66 inside Michael P. O'Brien ARC Arena.
Salisbury's (4-6) first bucket of the game came from
Tyler Ball spotting up
Aidan Camper for three to beat the Seahawks' (3-4) zone defense. Ball nailed a fadeaway jumper to give the Sea Gulls an early 5-3 advantage.
Patrick Wynne found a soft spot in the zone and hit from the free-throw line. On the ensuing inbound, Wynne stole away the pass, and
Daniel Oyediran capitalized with a made layup to give the Sea Gulls a four-point swing and make it 11-7 in favor of the visitors.
Later in the half, the Sea Gulls worked their lead to seven by going on a 12-6 run, capped off by a Camper layup. St Mary's (Md.) would swing the game back in their favor, taking a 34-31 lead with 100 seconds remaining in the frame. A Ball jumper,
Churchill Bounds layup and
Leon Elung dunk gave the Maroon and Gold a one-point lead heading into halftime.
The Seahawks stayed within a possession until
Joey Lutz fired home a catch-and-shoot trey to get Salisbury ahead by six. With 11:26 remaining, Elung banked in a layup, and Lutz got the lead up to 11 with another triple.
St. Mary's (Md.) got back within four with just over six minutes to play, but Camper scored five straight points for the Gulls to halt the hosts' momentum. Oyediran closed the game out down the stretch, scoring eight of the next ten points for Salisbury while shooting a perfect 4-4 from the floor to leave the Seahawks in the dust.
GAME NOTES
- Oyediran tied a season-high in points (19) and a career-high in rebounds (6). Oyediran shot 9-17 from the field and 6-10 in the second stanza.
- Camper scored 14 points and delivered twice from distance. The Sea Gulls are 3-1 this year when Camper makes multiple threes in a game.
- Elung scored ten points and fell two boards shy of a double-double.
- Salisbury shot 48.5 percent (33-68) from the field, 23.5 percent (4-17) from beyond the arc and 41.2 percent (7-17) from the charity stripe.
- The Sea Gulls allowed 21 field goals to the Seahawks, the lowest allowed this season.
The Sea Gulls take on the Widener University Pride in Chester, Pa., on Saturday before taking 16 days off. Tip-off is set for 1 p.m.
Salisbury University is a proud member of NCAA Division III with primary membership in the Coast-to-Coast Athletic Conference, along with affiliate membership in the New Jersey Athletic Conference (football, men's & women's swimming), Coastal Lacrosse Conference (men's lacrosse), State University of New York Athletic Conference (field hockey), and Colonial Women's Golf Conference (women's golf). With over 500 student-athletes in 23 varsity sports, SU is recognized as one of the nation's most competitive intercollegiate athletics programs regardless of division, featuring dedicated coaches and staff that foster excellence on and off the field. The Sea Gulls have won a combined 23 team national championships, 24 individual national championships, and 206 conference championships, and have produced 53 Academic All-Americans.
To Make Tomorrow Yours at Salisbury University, and learn more about Sea Gull Athletics' tradition of excellence, visit SUSeaGulls.com or follow on social media @SUSeaGulls.
