The Sea Gulls (3-2), who have won three straight since starting the year 0-2, won the contest by holding the Marlins (2-2) to just 43.5% (20-of-46) shooting from the field, while hitting 51.2% (21-of-41) on the offensive end.
Williams, who entered the game as Salisbury’s top scorer, rebounding and assist leader, hit 6-of-11 field goals and had a game-high six assists to go along with four boards. Odumeru dropped in 6-of-13 from the field, but canned 5-of-6 from the free throw stripe to go along with three rebounds.
Senior Kyle Harmon (Salisbury, Md./Parkside) was a perfect 2-for-2 from the field and hit 5-of-8 from the charity stripe to score 10 points for Salisbury. Senior Justin Rice (Bel Air, Md./C. Milton Wright) added seven points and sophomore Darren Johnson (Montgomery Village, Md./Gaithersburg) dropped in six points (3-for-4 FG) and had three boards.
Three Virginia Wesleyan players scored in double figures. Junior Brandon Adair (Virginia Beach, Va./Princess Anne) paced the Marlins with 15 points on 4-of-6 shooting from the field. He also led all rebounders with nine. Senior Marques Fitch (Virginia Beach, Va./Floyd E. Kellam) dropped in 12 points to go along with five boards and sophomore TonTon Balenga (Newport News, Va./Warwick) was also in double figures with 10 points.
Salisbury won the game despite being outrebounded 35-23.
The Sea Gulls jumped out in front early, going on a 15-2 run over the first 5:54 of the contest. Five different Salisbury players scored during the run as SU threatened to break the game open early.
But Virginia Wesleyan fought back and went on a run of its own, outscoring Salisbury 13-0 to tie the score at 15-15 with 7:44 left in the first half.
Neither team could shake its opponent in the remaining seven minutes of the period as the teams went the locker rooms tied 21-21 at intermission.
Williams hit a jumper to start the second half for Salisbury and the Sea Gulls never relinquished the lead. SU held leads of eight points on three occasions before pulling out to a nine-point lead, 39-30, on a layup by Johnson with 11:41 remaining.
Adair’s field goal with 8:59 remaining cut Salisbury’s lead to three points, 40-37, but that was as close as the Marlins would come. The Sea Gulls went on an 11-4 run over the next 6:03 to pull out to a 51-41 advantage with 2:55 left.
Salisbury held on down the stretch by hitting only 10-of-14 free throws in the final 1:13 as the Marlins began to foul.
The Sea Gulls will open Capital Athletic Conference play Wednesday night when the Sea Gulls travel to Goucher College for an 8 p.m. start. The women’s league game begins at 6 p.m.
Virginia Wesleyan College vs Salisbury University 11/28/05 7:00 pm at Maggs Center, Salisbury, Md. At Maggs Center, Salisbury, Md. SALISBURY UNIVERSITY 66, VIRGINIA WESLEYAN COLLEGE 62 VIRGINIA WESLEYAN COLLEGE (2-2) ADAIR, Brandon 4-6 7-12 15; FITCH, Marques 3-8 5-6 12; BALENGA, TonTon 2-7 5-6 10; PASCHAL, Ari' 3-3 0-1 7; YOUNG, Rodney 2-4 1-2 6; SUMPTER, Thomas 2-4 0-1 4; FANTIN, Tyler 2-8 0-0 4; TOWELL, Matt 1-1 0-0 2; TUCKER, D'Juan 1-4 0-0 2; HASSELL, Norman 0-0 0-0 0; JACKSON, Quinton 0-0 0-0 0; GREEN, Tory 0-1 0-0 0. Totals 20-46 18-28 62. SALISBURY UNIVERSITY (3-2) Ray Williams 6-11 5-9 18; Segun Odumeru 6-13 5-6 17; Kyle Harmon 2-2 5-8 10; Justin Rice 1-5 5-6 7; Darren Johnson 3-4 0-3 6; Rico Stewart 1-3 2-2 4; Jeremy Kincaid 1-1 0-0 2; Derrick Washington 1-2 0-0 2; Jonas Vaitkus 0-0 0-0 0; Ozi Menakaya 0-0 0-0 0; Gary Ward 0-0 0-1 0; Marcus Crenshaw 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 21-41 22-35 66. Virginia Wesleyan College..... 21 41 - 62 Salisbury University.......... 21 45 - 66 3-point goals-Virginia Wesleyan College 4-16 (FITCH, Marques 1-6; YOUNG, Rodney 1-2; PASCHAL, Ari' 1-1; BALENGA, TonTon 1-3; TUCKER, D'Juan 0-2; FANTIN, Tyler 0-2), Salisbury University 2-10 (Ray Williams 1-3; Kyle Harmon 1-1; Justin Rice 0-2; Rico Stewart 0-1; Derrick Washington 0-1; Segun Odumeru 0-2). Fouled out--Virginia Wesleyan College-BALENGA, TonTon; TUCKER, D'Juan, Salisbury University-Darren Johnson. Rebounds-Virginia Wesleyan College 35 (ADAIR, Brandon 9), Salisbury University 23 (Ray Williams 4). Assists-Virginia Wesleyan College 10 (FITCH, Marques 3; GREEN, Tory 3), Salisbury University 11 (Ray Williams 6). Total fouls-Virginia Wesleyan College 29, Salisbury University 25. A-307 Virginia Wesleyan came into the game ranked No.11 in the nation