– The 10th consecutive victory by the St. Mary’s College of Maryland men’s basketball team was a sweet one on Valentine’s Day as it gave Head Coach Chris Harney ’97 his 200th career win. The Seahawks posted an 84-67 Capital Athletic Conference win over Wesley College to complete the series sweep.
Already the school’s all-time winningest coach, Coach Harney’s 10-year record now stands at 200-78. He has guided the program to five NCAA Tournament appearances, five league regular-season titles, and four CAC tournament crowns during his tenure.
St. Mary’s (18-4, 14-2 CAC) continues to sit alone on top of the CAC standings as Marymount (Va.) University (18-5, 12-4 CAC), Christopher Newport University (17-6, 12-4 CAC), and Salisbury University (16-7, 12-4 CAC) are now in a three-way tie for second.
The Seahawks, who rank sixth in the first edition of the NCAA Division III Middle Atlantic Region rankings, will host Christopher Newport in the Michael P. O’Brien Athletics & Recreation Center Arena on Wednesday, February 18th at 8:00 p.m. St. Mary’s will look to avenge its second CAC loss on Wednesday night after falling 66-58 on the road on January 14th.
Before the start of Saturday’s action, the Seahawks recognized and honored their three seniors – team captains MacGyver Biniak (Elkridge, Md./Howard), Lee Jordan, Jr. (Baltimore, Md./Baltimore Free Academy), and Nicholas LaGuerre (Baltimore, Md./Lansdowne).
Junior captain Troy Spurrier (Mt. Airy, Md./Glenelg) paced the Seahawks in the win off the bench with career- and game-best 25 points, six rebounds and career-best four assists. LaGuerre contributed 19 points, game-best six assists, and five caroms while junior guard Tanner Brooks (Baltimore, Md./St. Paul’s School) added 11 points, team-best seven boards, and game-high six assists.
Wesley opened up strong and owned its only lead of the game – 6-2 – at 17:58 before the Seahawks responded with a 21-9 run for an eight-point advantage at 9:13. The Wolverines closed the gap to three but would get no closer as St. Mary’s went on a 16-8 run and headed into the locker room with a 44-34 halftime lead.
Spurrier went 6-of-7 from the field for a halftime-best 13 points while LaGuerre tallied 10 to lead the Seahawks. Senior forward Jason Forges (Miami, Fla./North Port) paced Wesley with seven points off the bench.
The Wolverines closed to within eight on a jumper by senior Quincy Pettiford (Portsmouth, Va./Concord [Del.]) 14 seconds into the second stanza. After that, St. Mary’s turned on the boosters and charged to a 62-40 lead with 12:55 left in the game.
First-year guard Delaszo Smith (Baltimore, Md./Annapolis) also had a solid performance for the Seahawks off the bench with 10 points. As a team, St. Mary’s shot almost 61% (31-51) from the floor, including 7-of-11 from beyond the arc for 63.6%.
Junior guard AJ Tilghman (Wilmington, Del./St. Georges Tech) paced Wesley in its third straight loss with 15 points while Pettiford finished with 13 and first-year guard JW Lawson (Newark, Del./Concord) added 10.
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