The Eagles jumped on the green and white early as they led 19-11 just under seven minutes into the game. The Eagles maintained the lead between three and eight points until Brandon Bushey canned a triple to tie the game at 27. The Eagles quickly retook the lead and continued to hold the advantage until Kenny Fass tied the game at 41 on a three-pointer with 2:42 left in the half. The Spartans edged the Eagles 7-6 over the next two minutes as they took a 48-47 lead to the break.
After Mary Washington got a three-point play from Mike Lee to open the half, the Spartans went on a quick 10-3 spurt to take the 58-53 lead just over three minutes into the half. The Spartans pushed the lead to eight on a Paddy Lee triple with 13:54 remaining. The Eagles cut the lead to four but sophomore Chad McGowan scored 11 of the Spartans’ next 12 points as York led 77-71 with 8:29 remaining in the game. The Eagles proceeded to tie the game at 79 and the contest was tied again at 82 with 5:10 left. The Spartans scored the next six points with the final bucket coming off a monster fast break dunk from McGowan as the York advantage stood at 88-82 with just over four minutes left.
Mary Washington wasn’t about to go away as they kept the Spartan lead between four and six points until Lee hit a pair of free throws after a questionable blocking call against York, trimming the Eagle deficit to three at 94-91. McGowan nailed two free throws with 28 seconds left and Bushey iced the win with two charity tosses with 10 seconds remaining to salt away the win.
The Spartans received a career-high 32 points from McGowan as he hit 12-for-23 from the floor and 7-for-8 from the free throw line. He added seven rebounds and two blocked shots in his 31 minutes of work. Fass was outstanding as he tallied 19 points while he also pulled down a team-high eight rebounds. He also had three big steals and a pair of assists as his defensive effort was superb on the day. Bushey was the third Spartan in double figures with 14 points. Lee chipped in with a game-high eight assists while he also had six points, two rebounds and two steals. Quinn Howard came off the bench and played 14 valuable minutes as he tallied eight points, four rebounds, and four assists.
Mary Washington placed all five starters in double figures led by Jon Pierce as he had 30 points and nine rebounds. Pierce was 12-for-18 from the floor including 4-of-7 from distance. Lee, Justin Baker and Kiernan
Whitworth each tallied 17 points for the Eagles. Lee added four assists and three rebounds while Baker recorded six rebounds and six assists for UMW. Whitworth was 6-for-8 from the field including 4-of-5 from three. Matt Treacy was the fifth Eagle in double figures with 10 points. The Eagles received just two points of the bench as the starters combined to tally 91 points.
The two teams shot the ball extremely well from the floor for the game. Mary Washington converted 55.7% of their attempts from the field while York shot 52.1% from the floor. The Eagles were sizzling from downtown as they nailed 14-of-26 (53.8%) from three while York was a pedestrian 9-for-24 (37.5%) from distance. The Spartans out-rebounded their guests 38-31 while they also handed out 23 assists while they had just 13 turnovers. York attempted 10 more shots from the floor than UMW.
The Spartans return to action on Wednesday when they travel to Gallaudet to face a dangerous Bison squad. Tip time is set for 8:00 pm in Washington, D.C.
Mary Washington vs York (Pa.) 1/21/06 2:00 pm at Charles Wolf Gym - York, PA At Charles Wolf Gym - York, PA YORK (PA.) 98, MARY WASHINGTON 93 MARY WASHINGTON (9-7, 4-2 CAC) Jon Pierce 12-18 2-4 30; Mike Lee 4-7 6-7 17; Justin Baker 7-15 2-6 17; Kiernan Whitworth 6-8 1-2 17; Matt Treacy 4-10 0-0 10; Gaelan Whitworth 1-1 0-0 2; Ben Oliven 0-0 0-0 0; Eric Pearson 0-1 0-0 0; Pat Corcoran 0-0 0-0 0; Mike Mattson 0-0 0-0 0; E.J. Anderson 0-1 0-0 0. Totals 34-61 11-19 93. YORK (PA.) (14-2, 4-2 CAC) Chad McGowan 12-23 7-8 32; Kenny Fass 8-13 1-3 19; Brandon Bushey 5-11 2-2 14; Quinn Howard 3-5 2-4 8; Paddy Lee 2-6 0-0 6; Joe Yeck 2-2 0-0 6; Nate Fry 2-5 1-2 5; Brad Zerfing 1-2 1-2 3; Pat Kelley 1-1 1-1 3; Brian Singer 1-3 0-0 2. Totals 37-71 15-22 98. Mary Washington............... 47 46 - 93 York (Pa.).................... 48 50 - 98 3-point goals-Mary Washington 14-26 (Jon Pierce 4-7; Kiernan Whitworth 4-5; Mike Lee 3-4; Matt Treacy 2-7; Justin Baker 1-2; E.J. Anderson 0-1), York (Pa.) 9-24 (Brandon Bushey 2-6; Joe Yeck 2-2; Paddy Lee 2-5; Kenny Fass 2-5; Chad McGowan 1-4; Nate Fry 0-2). Fouled out--Mary Washington-None, York (Pa.)-None. Rebounds-Mary Washington 31 (Jon Pierce 9), York (Pa.) 38 (Kenny Fass 8). Assists-Mary Washington 20 (Justin Baker 6), York (Pa.) 23 (Paddy Lee 8). Total fouls-Mary Washington 20, York (Pa.) 19. A-1027 The Spartans win their 27th straight at Wolf Gym. Sophomore Chad McGowan tallies a career-high 32 points. York returns to action on Wednesday when they travel to Gallaudet for a CAC match up. Tip time is 8:00 pm.