Marymount Knocks Off Seahawks in OT in CAC Semifinals
Game Program
St. Mary's City, Md. - Third time was the charm as the fourth-seeded Marymount (Va.) University men's basketball team closed out the first overtime period on a 6-1 run over a 2:02-minute span to knock off the defending Capital Athletic Conference champions, St. Mary's College of Maryland, 86-81, in the CAC semifinals Thursday night.
Marymount (15-12) now advance to Saturday's CAC championship game at second-seeded Wesley College, who was a 98-79 winner over No. 3 seed University of Mary Washington in tonight's other semifinal match-up. The Saints have twice won the conference championship title (1992 and 2000), while Wesley will be making their first-ever trip to the title game in just its second year in the CAC.
With 11:23 left in the contest, the visitors found themselves staring at a 13-point deficit. Marymount erased the deficit with a five-minute, 19-5 run to claim a 62-61 lead. From there, the two teams traded baskets and were tied for the sixth time at 70-all with 1:01 on the clock. The heroics then started as sophomore guard Alex Franz (Catonsville, Md./Cardinal Gibbons) nailed a three-pointer to put the Seahawks up 73-70 with eight ticks left in the game. However, sophomore guard Chapmen Canady (Lorton, Va./Hayfield), who missed the potential game-winning free throw on January 31, fired off a three of his own at the buzzer to send it into overtime.
During their regular season match-ups, top-seeded St. Mary's (21-5) had notched a 76-67 home court victory on December 6 and a 77-71 overtime road win on January 31. The Saints' win tonight halted St. Mary's home game win streak at 15 games as the Seahawks had not lost at home since a 72-70 loss to Marymount back on January 30, 2008.
Marymount's freshman forward Tarek Ammoury (McLean, Va./McLean) led all scorers with 24 points on 8-of-12 shooting from the floor and 8-of-9 from the free throw line. Juniors Ronnie Barbour (Upper Marlboro, Md./F. Douglass) and Elvis Ellis (Gaithersburg, Md./Magruder) combined for 26 points off the bench, while junior guard Patrick Prewitt (Mitchellville, Md./Eleanor Roosevelt) added 10.
The Saints edged St. Mary's, 30-29, at halftime as Marymount shot 52.2 percent from the floor, while limiting the Seahawks to 38.5 percent, including 1-of-8 threes. Prewitt led all scorers with 10 first-half points, while junior guard Camontae Griffin (Baltimore, Md./Dunbar) paced the home team with seven.
Franz matched his career-high of 23 points on 7-of-13 shooting and tallied a game-best six helpers, while senior center Alex Irmer (Alexandria, Va./Wakefield) registered a double-double on 16 points (just two points shy of notching his 1,000th career point) and 12 boards. Griffin and senior forward Calvin Wise (Bel Air, Md./Calvert Hall) both ended the night with 14 points.
The No. 1 team in the latest NCAA Middle Atlantic regional
rankings, St. Mary's fate now rests in the hands of the NCAA
selection committee. The 2009 NCAA Division III Men's
Basketball Tournament bids will be announced Monday, March 2
starting at 11:00 a.m. at
http://all-access.cbssports.com/player.html?code=ncaa&media=106752.
