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Press Release

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GREENSBORO, N.C. — St. Mary’s College of Maryland shot 62.5-percent in the second half on Friday evening on the way to defeating host Guilford College 89-77 in the first round of the NCAA Division III Men’s Basketball Tournament. The Seahawks, now 18-11 on the season, move on to face Widener University in the second round on Saturday evening at 7:00 p.m. in Greensboro. The Quakers bow out with a 24-5 overall record.

The Seahawks’ inaugural run in the NCAA tournament will continue thanks in part to a strong shooting day from guard Tyson Lesesne. Lesesne finished the night with 27 points on 10-of-13 shooting including a 6-of-9 showing from three-point range. He made 4-of-5 from outside the arc in the second half.

SMC shot 56.9-percent from the field for the game with four players in double figures. Alex Irmer picked up 21 points on 8-of-13 shooting. Mike Smelkinson added 18 points including 4-of-8 from three-point land. He also dished out seven assists. Alex Franz chipped in 10 points.

Guilford center Ben Strong capped his fine career with a game-high 35 points on 12-of-20 shooting from the field and 10-of-11 from the foul line. He also pulled down a game-high eight rebounds. Eric Belkowski had 16 points and seven boards, and Clay Henson and George Neville each added nine points.

Both teams opened the contest running up and down the hardwood until Guilford went to work down low. Strong scored three straight times in the paint to give the Quakers’ an 18-11 lead with 13:38 on the clock. Rhett Bonner forced the game’s first timeout with a lay-up to put GC ahead 20-11 at the 13:08 mark.

The Seahawks responded out of the timeout with a three-pointer by Lesesne, but a pair of missed free throws by Jarczynski cost SMC a chance to pull within five. Bonner chipped in his second bucket of the game on the ensuing possession with a jumper from the wing, but Lesesne responded with a jumper of his own.

SMC guard Smelkinson hit a pair of three pointers to pull SMC to within four at 26-22, forcing Guilford into its first break with 9:26 to go in the opening frame. Jarczynski kept the pressure up for SMC, pulling his squad to within two with a tough lay-up and then eventually tying the score at 26-26 with a pair of free throws with 7:17 showing on the clock.

Strong triggered his second scoring run of the half, hitting the latter of two straight buckets with 6:25 on the scoreboard for a 30-26 edge. Lesesne responded with his second long-distance make of the half to pull the Seahawks within one. SMC took a brief lead on a fast-break lay-up by Franz, but Strong quickly regained the lead for Guilford at 32-31 with a jumper in the lane.

Guilford’s Strong again gave the Quakers a two-point lead, but Smelkinson responded with his third make from beyond the arc for a 35-34 SMC lead with 3:04 on the clock. Bonner and Neville came back with lay-ups each for Guilford to put GC back on top, 38-35.

Irmer made the second of two foul shots to pull SMC to within a pair at 38-36 and tied the game on the Seahawks’ next possession with a turnaround jumper on the low-block with 0:35 left before the intermission. Strong hit a pair of free throws to retake the lead for Guilford and give him 21 points for the half, but Calvin Wise countered with one of his own to send the game into the half with GC ahead, 40-39.

Henson got the Quakers started in the second half with his second score of the game. A block by Tyler Sanborn set up a pair of free throws by Belkowski to put Guilford ahead 44-39 just 1:27 into the frame. Two more from the charity stripe by Strong gave the Quakers’ a seven-point advantage with 17:16 to play.

Out of a timeout, Lesesne beat the Quakers’ zone defense with his third three of the game, and then Irmer added two from the line to cut GC’s lead to 46-44 with 16:32 to go. Lesesne tied the score the next trip down with an off-balance lay-up.

SMC earned its first lead of the latter frame with 15:13 on the clock thanks to a foul line jumper by Irmer. Lesesne connected on another from deep to give the Seahawks their largest lead to this point at 51-46 with 14:34 showing on the clock.

Lesesne continued his showing from the outside with his fifth three-pointer of the game to push the Seahawks’ lead to eight at 54-46. Strong put an end to SMC’s run with a couple of free throws, but Lesesne again dialed long-distance and then drew an intentional foul after a steal. He hit the first of the two free tosses for a 58-48 lead with 13:12 to play.

The St. Mary’s lead reach 14 points at 63-49 following a three-pointer by Smelkinson, but an offensive rebound and lay-up by Belkowski and another lay-in by Strong cut it down to 10 at 63-53. Irmer responded with an inside jumper, but Henson one-upped him with his only three-pointer of the game at 8:52 to slice the difference to nine at 65-56.

The two squads traded baskets and mistakes over the next few possessions going into a timeout by Guilford with 7:12 to play and SMC ahead, 68-58. Out of the break, Smelkinson stole an errant pass and Irmer made it stand up with a baseline jumper for a 70-58 lead. Smelkinson added two from the stripe to push the Seahawk’s advantage back to 14 with 6:06 to play.

Neville completed a three-point play with 5:05 on the clock to pull Guilford within 11 at 72-61, but the two squads again bartered two-point scores the next four possessions going into GC timeout with SMC ahead 76-65. Wise came out of the break with a lay-up for the Seahawks, but five straight points from Belkowski brought the Quakers’ back to within eight at 78-70 with 2:28 on the clock. Franz quieted the mini-run with two free throws, but Belkowski got those back with a floater from the foul line with 2:07 to play.

Franz made perhaps the biggest bucket of the game coming out of the timeout. As SMC worked the clock down, Franz drove inside with Strong waiting in the paint. He dropped the ball in the net past the Guilford big man for an 82-72 lead with 1:35 on the clock.

The Seahawk lead reached a high of 15 points in the final minute, giving SMC enough cushion to run out the rest of the clock.

Press release submitted by Guilford on Mar 07 2008 at 10:33 PM

Newspaper Box Score:

St. Mary's (Md.) vs Guilford
03/07/08 8:00 p.m. at Greensboro, NC - Ragan-Brown Field House
At Greensboro, NC - Ragan-Brown Field House
ST. MARY'S (MD.) 89, GUILFORD 77
ST. MARY'S (MD.) (18-11)
Tyson Lesesne 10-13 1-3 27; Alex Irmer 8-13 4-6 21; Mike Smelkinson 4-9 6-6
18; Alex Franz 3-3 4-4 10; Calvin Wise 2-6 3-6 7; Kyle Jarczynski 2-5 2-4 6;
Kyle Sullivan 0-0 0-0 0; Joe Smith 0-0 0-0 0; Mike Fitzpatrick 0-2 0-0 0;
Sam Burum 0-0 0-0 0; TJ Jordan 0-0 0-0 0; Sean MacIntosh 0-0 0-0 0. Totals
29-51 20-29 89.
GUILFORD (24-5)
STRONG, Ben 12-20 10-11 35; BELKOSKI, Eric 6-12 3-4 16; HENSON, Clay 3-13
2-2 9; NEVILLE, George 4-8 1-1 9; BONNER, Rhett 3-4 0-0 6; EDMOND, Ray 1-1
0-0 2; SANBORN, Tyler 0-3 0-0 0; KIMBROUGH, Caleb 0-4 0-0 0; ANDERSON, T.C.
0-0 0-0 0; STEPHENSON, Martin 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 29-65 16-18 77.
St. Mary's (Md.).............. 39 50 - 89
Guilford...................... 40 37 - 77
3-point goals--St. Mary's (Md.) 11-21 (Tyson Lesesne 6-9; Mike Smelkinson
4-8; Alex Irmer 1-2; Mike Fitzpatrick 0-2), Guilford 3-16 (BELKOSKI, Eric
1-3; HENSON, Clay 1-10; STRONG, Ben 1-1; KIMBROUGH, Caleb 0-2). Fouled
out--St. Mary's (Md.)-None, Guilford-None. Rebounds--St. Mary's (Md.) 32
(Alex Irmer 5), Guilford 33 (STRONG, Ben 8). Assists--St. Mary's (Md.) 18
(Mike Smelkinson 7), Guilford 16 (KIMBROUGH, Caleb 5). Total fouls--St.
Mary's (Md.) 17, Guilford 22. Technical fouls--St. Mary's (Md.)-None,
Guilford-None. A-1123
NCAA Division III Basketball Championships - 1st Round Game.
St. Mary's advances to play Widener in a second round game Saturday (3-8) at
7 p.m.

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