Salisbury, which has won four of its last five contests, including 3-of-4 CAC games, improved to 10-6 on the year, 4-2 in league action. The win also kept the Sea Gulls perfect at home for the season (7-0) and kept SU within one-half game of first-place Catholic University (12-3, 4-1 CAC). The Cardinals were at Gallaudet Saturday. SU is tied with Mary Washington and York College (Pa.) at 4-2 in the CAC. St. Mary’s fell to 7-9, 2-4 in conference with the loss.
Segun Odumeru led Salisbury in scoring with 23 points, hitting 5-of-7 from behind the three-point arc. He also added five boards. Williams pumped in 16 points on 5-of-12 shooting from the field. He also assists. Kyle Harmon chipped in 10 points and pulled down five boards.
St. Mary’s forward Tyson Lesesne led all scorers with 30 points, hitting 12-of-22 from the field. He also added seven boards, three steals and three assists. Calvin Wise dumped in 13 points and tallied seven rebounds and Valdez Preston dropped in 11 points and had six boards.
Despite hitting just 38.7% (12-of-31) from the field in the first half, Salisbury took a 34-30 lead at intermission. The Sea Gulls fell behind by as many as five, 19-14, in the opening period, but kept the game close by holding a 21-17 advantage in the rebounding department. The lead changed hands 11 times in the opening 20 minutes, with the Gulls’ biggest advantage coming just before intermission when Williams hit a pair of free throws.
The Seahawks battled back to take the lead three times in the second half, including a five-point lead (73-68) with 2:03 remaining. Salisbury’s Rico Stewart (2 pts, 6 rb) then hit a pair of free throws and Harmon hit 1-of-2 from the charity stripe after Lesesne hit a charity shot.
Trailing by three points, Williams sank a three-point from the top of the circle with 39 seconds remaining when he took a pass from Odumeru. The teams traded possessions before the Gulls set up the winning play on a timeout. Williams took the inbounds pass and used a pick by Harmon to drive around the ride side and hit the runner with two defenders in his face.
Salisbury will go on the road three times this week. The Gulls will visit Hood College Monday (7 p.m.) in a non-conference matchup, before traveling to Catholic University (8 p.m.) on Wednesday and York College (2 p.m.) on Saturday.
St. Mary's College vs Salisbury University 1/21/06 4:00 p.m. at Maggs Center, Salisbury, MD At Maggs Center, Salisbury, MD SALISBURY UNIVERSITY 76, ST. MARY'S COLLEGE 74 ST. MARY'S COLLEGE (7-9 (2-4 CAC)) Tyson Lesesne 12-22 3-4 30; Calvin Wise 4-9 5-6 13; Valdez Preston 2-8 7-8 11; Spencer Way III 2-4 2-2 7; Dan Engelstad 2-6 1-2 5; Tommy Bushell 2-6 1-2 5; T.J. Jordan 1-5 0-0 3; Chris Moderacki 0-0 0-0 0; Ryan Carr 0-2 0-0 0; Kyle Sullivan 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 25-62 19-24 74. SALISBURY UNIVERSITY (10-6 (4-2 CAC)) Segun Odumeru 9-19 0-0 23; Ray Williams 5-12 5-10 16; Kyle Harmon 3-9 3-4 10; Gary Ward 3-6 0-2 9; Derrick Washington 3-5 0-0 7; Dameon Gibbs 2-2 0-0 4; Rico Stewart 0-3 3-4 3; Justin Rice 1-4 0-0 2; Darren Johnson 1-1 0-0 2; Jonas Vaitkus 0-1 0-0 0; Ozi Menakaya 0-2 0-1 0; Aaron Meekins 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 27-64 11-21 76. St. Mary's College............ 30 44 - 74 Salisbury University.......... 34 42 - 76 3-point goals-St. Mary's College 5-18 (Tyson Lesesne 3-9; T.J. Jordan 1-2; Spencer Way III 1-2; Dan Engelstad 0-1; Ryan Carr 0-1; Valdez Preston 0-3), Salisbury University 11-19 (Segun Odumeru 5-7; Gary Ward 3-5; Derrick Washington 1-1; Ray Williams 1-4; Kyle Harmon 1-1; Justin Rice 0-1). Fouled out--St. Mary's College-Tommy Bushell, Salisbury University-None. Rebounds-St. Mary's College 33 (Tyson Lesesne 7; Calvin Wise 7), Salisbury University 42 (Ozi Menakaya 14). Assists-St. Mary's College 10 (Tyson Lesesne 3), Salisbury University 18 (Ray Williams 5). Total fouls-St. Mary's College 19, Salisbury University 21. A-250