ASHLAND, Va. – The Salisbury University men's basketball team came off its holiday break and used a 16-0 run in the first half to cruise past the Eastern University Eagles 72-46 on Monday afternoon in the first matchup of the RMC Coaches Tournament.
Neither side would score in the first two minutes until
Jamison Graves knocked down a triple that
Aidan Camper assisted. Off a Camper miss,
Elijah Bryan crashed the glass and banked in an and-one to work Salisbury's (6-6) early advantage to 7-2 right after the first media timeout.
The Eagles (2-6) climbed ahead twice in the first ten minutes of play, only for
Tyler Ball and Graves to respond from distance to take the lead back. After making it 17-16, Graves doubled up from beyond the arc, then made a layup to make it 22-16 SU. Including the scores from Graves, the Sea Gulls scored 16 points unanswered in almost seven and a half minutes of action and did not allow a field goal in the final eight minutes to take a 32-17 lead into halftime.
Churchill Bounds gave the Maroon and Gold momentum in the second half by converting a three-point play. Eastern cut the deficit to 11, but a 13-2 eruption headlined by two more triples from Graves and eight points overall put the Sea Gulls well in front.
Leon Elung assisted back-to-back buckets by Bryan to bolster the margin, and six straight points from
Patrick Wynne in the final two minutes put the icing on the cake in a dominant victory for the Gulls.
GAME NOTES
- Graves scored a team-high 22 points and buried five three-pointers to notch his fourth game of the year with 20 or more points.
- Elung recorded career-highs in rebounds (15) and assists (4). Elung is averaging over 10.5 rebounds per game in his past three contests played.
- Salisbury shot 37.9 percent (22-58) from the field, 36.8 percent (7-19) from beyond the arc and 72.4 percent (21-29) from the free throw line.
- The Sea Gulls allowed a season-low 46 points to Eastern and held the Eagles to a 26.4 percent (14-53) clip from the field.
With the win, the Sea Gulls secured a spot in the championship game of the RMC Coaches Tournament and will take on the winner of Misericordia and No. 2 Randolph-Macon at 3 p.m. on Tuesday.
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.
