NEWPORT NEWS, Va. – The Salisbury University men's basketball team competed with the University of Mary Hardin-Baylor for the first time in program history and dropped the affair to the Crusaders by a score of 64-60 inside the Freeman Center.
The teams traded threes to start the contest as
Jamison Graves connected to get the Sea Gulls (10-8) on the board.
Daniel Oyediran swiftly prompted a fastbreak after getting a steal that led to a
Churchill Bounds layup.
Elijah Carroll and
Leon Elung joined the scoring with four points each to give Salisbury a 13-11 advantage over the Crusaders (13-5).
The lead swung back and forth between both sides until
Aidan Camper unleashed a barrage of triples, making three in the span of two minutes to spark an 11-3 run, aided by a Graves mid-range jumper. The Crusaders responded with shots from beyond the arc by Donta Coady and Elijah Lawrence to bring the affair within one at 24-23 SU.
The Crusaders managed to score two field goals after the final media timeout, and the teams went into halftime deadlocked 28-28.
The Maroon and Gold came out of the break with a 9-5 swing, headlined by two buckets from Elung and a triple from Graves. Bounds took a steal caused by Elung for a slam dunk, but the Crusaders took the lead back in the following minutes and never looked back by outpacing SU 19-1 to pad a 53-40 cushion.
The Sea Gulls quickly rebounded by swinging the pendulum by scoring 13 of the next 17 points in the contest. Elung sparked the burst with a three, a dunk and a layup while Carroll, Graves and Oyediran each chipped in two points to get the Gulls back in striking distance.
With under two minutes to play, Graves found Bounds in the paint for deuce, but a three on the other end got the Crusaders' lead back to seven, before Graves got a three to fall with under 30 seconds remaining. Free Throws from Hudson Johnson put the game out of reach for the Sea Gulls.
GAME NOTES
- Elung had an efficient 7-8 shooting night to rack up 16 points along with seven boards, two helpers and three steals.
- Camper tallied 13 points and three steals.
- Graves made a return to the lineup after missing the past three games and scored 14 points with a career-high eight rebounds.
- Bounds handed out five assists to accompany eight points and eight rebounds.
- Salisbury shot 40.7 percent (24-59) from the field, 36.8 percent (7-19) from beyond the arc and 62.5 percent (5-8) from the charity stripe.
The Sea Gulls turn around for a clash with East Texas Baptist on Sunday inside the Freeman Center at 2 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 54 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.
