St. Mary’s Rolls Past Gallaudet
James Davenport
St. Mary's City, Md. - Junior guard Camontae Griffin (Baltimore, Md./Dunbar) poured in a game-high 22 points in leading the St. Mary's College of Maryland men's basketball team to an 84-59 win over Gallaudet University Monday afternoon in Capital Athletic Conference action.
Gallaudet (7-7, 0-7 CAC) jumped out to an early 5-0 lead before the Seahawks posted a 22-8 run to claim a nine-point lead at 8:31. St. Mary's carried that momentum to a 41-30 halftime advantage as Griffin paced all players with 11 first-half points. The Seahawks connected on 61.5%, including making 4-of-7 three-point shots with sophomore forward Mike Fitzpatrick (Bethesda, Md./Walt Whitman) going 2-for-2 from downtown.
Freshman Tony Tatum (Birmingham, Ala./Huffman) led the Bison in the first half with 10 points on 4-of-9 shooting.
St. Mary's (13-3, 6-1 CAC) held off an early rally by the Bison as GU opened up the second half with an 11-4 run to close the gap to 45-41 at 16:44, only to watch the Seahawks quickly build back their lead to eight. Gallaudet worked to knock it back down to three but SMCM broke the game wide open with a 23-5 run, boasting a 72-51 margin at 4:35.
As a team, the Seahawks shot 56.3% to Gallaudet's 37.7%. St. Mary's out-rebounded the Bison as well with a 44-34 margin as sophomore forward Mike Bowden (Columbia, Md./Long Reach) grabbed a game- and season-high nine boards.
Senior forward Calvin Wise (Bel Air, Md./Calvert Hall) finished with 14 points on 7-of-8 shooting and matched his career-best with three steals, while freshman guard James Davenport (Baltimore, Md./Loyola Blakefield) contributed 12 points off the bench.
Tatum led Gallaudet with 15 points and two assists, while junior Johnny Jackson, Jr. (Tuscaloosa, Ala./Paul W. Bryant) added 13 and six caroms. Freshman Jeremy Thrush (Carlisle, Pa./Susquehanna Twp.) chipped in 10 and five rebounds. Senior Sekoe White (Lexington, Ky./P.L. Dunbar), the team's leading scorer, was held way below his 17.7 scoring average as White only had seven points.
St. Mary's will return to action this Saturday, January 24 when the Seahawks travel to Dover, Delaware to take on the league-leading Wolverines of Wesley College at 4:00. The men's game will be the second of Saturday's CAC twin bill as the women face the Wolverines at 2:00.
