Hood College (9-10) hit 45.6% (26-of-57) from the field and 40.9% (9-of-22) from behind the three-point arc to secure the non-conference victory.
Kyle Harmon paced Salisbury with 13 points, converting 4-of-6 field goals and 5-of-8 from the charity stripe. Ray Williams was the only other SU player in double figures with 12 points, while handing out four assists. Segun Odumeru and Gary Ward each tallied eight points. The Gulls, who were outrebounded 44-34, were led in the category by Justin Rice with seven, and Ozi Menakaya with six.
The Salisbury bench kept the Sea Gulls close by outscoring the Hood reserves 25-15
Santo Provenzano led all scorers with 26 points for Hood. He hit 10-of-18 field goals, while pulling down nine rebounds and handing out four assists. Jesse Gutekunst added 14 points and hauled in 11 boards for the Blazers, and Tim Abercrombie finished with 13 points.
The contest was close throughout with Salisbury opening its biggest lead of five (9-4) with 14:49 left in the opening half. Hood then went on a 13-2 run over the next 5:36 to take a 17-11 lead with 9:13 left in the period. That was as large as the lead grew in the half as the Blazers clung to a 31-28 lead at intermission.
The Blazers came out fast in the third quarter, going on a 14-2 spurt and to lead by 15-points twice in the first five minutes of the final period. Hood took its biggest lead of 17, 52-35, with 14:17 remaining in the contest.
Salisbury made a run midway through the period when Ward hit a jumper and a three-point shot, and Menakaya completed a three-point play to pull SU within 56-48 with 10:12 remaining. But that was as close as the Gulls would come.
The Sea Gulls, who are currently in a four-team deadlock for first place in the Capital Athletic Conference race along with Catholic University (12-4), University of Mary Washington (9-7) and York College (14-2) with identical 4-2 records, will visit Catholic Wednesday night at 8 p.m. before traveling to York College on Saturday (2 p.m.) for another key matchup.
Salisbury vs Hood 01/23/06 7 p.m. at Frederick, Md. - Gov. Thomas Johnson HS At Frederick, Md. - Gov. Thomas Johnson HS HOOD 77, SALISBURY 65 SALISBURY (10-7) Kyle Harmon 4-6 5-8 13; Ray Williams 3-12 6-6 12; Gary Ward 2-5 3-4 8; Segun Odumeru 3-13 1-2 8; Darren Johnson 3-3 1-1 7; Ozi Menakaya 3-4 1-1 7; Justin Rice 1-6 1-1 3; Rico Stewart 0-4 3-4 3; Jonas Vaitkus 1-2 0-0 2; Dameon Gibbs 1-1 0-1 2; Derrick Washington 0-3 0-0 0. Totals 21-59 21-28 65. HOOD (9-10) Provenzano, Santo 10-18 6-11 26; Gutekunst, Jesse 4-10 5-6 14; Abercrombie, Tim 5-8 0-0 13; Tressler, Dennis 3-4 0-0 8; Robine, Sean 3-5 0-2 8; Edmonds, Darnell 1-9 4-4 7; Uzoukwu, Nnamdi 0-0 1-2 1; Tressler, Corey 0-0 0-0 0; Junghans, Justin 0-2 0-0 0; Yoo, Patrick 0-1 0-0 0. Totals 26-57 16-25 77. Salisbury..................... 28 37 - 65 Hood.......................... 31 46 - 77 3-point goals-Salisbury 2-15 (Segun Odumeru 1-2; Gary Ward 1-4; Justin Rice 0-2; Rico Stewart 0-2; Derrick Washington 0-1; Ray Williams 0-4), Hood 9-22 (Abercrombie, Tim 3-5; Tressler, Dennis 2-3; Robine, Sean 2-4; Gutekunst, Jesse 1-3; Edmonds, Darnell 1-4; Junghans, Justin 0-1; Yoo, Patrick 0-1; Provenzano, Santo 0-1). Fouled out--Salisbury-None, Hood-Gutekunst, Jesse; Robine, Sean. Rebounds-Salisbury 34 (Justin Rice 7), Hood 44 (Gutekunst, Jesse 11). Assists-Salisbury 9 (Ray Williams 4), Hood 16 (Edmonds, Darnell 8). Total fouls-Salisbury 24, Hood 25. A-475