November 15th Division III Basketball Highlights

VARIOUS LOCATIONS – Almost all of Maryland’s Division III basketball programs got underway on Wednesday night.  Here are the highlights of the teams that enjoyed first-game victories:

MARYMOUNT SAINTS  at JOHNS HOPKINS BLUE JAYS 

BALTIMORE, Md. – The Johns Hopkins Blue Jays (1-0) opened their 2017-18 men’s basketball schedule with a 22-point victory against the Marymount Saints (0-1) at Goldfarb Gym on Wednesday night, 82-60.

Senior F Kyle Doran had 21 points for the Blue Jays and Freshman G Connor Delaney added 16 points and seven assists.  Freshman G/f Ibrahim Kamara had 13 points for the Saints.

Johns Hopkins only lead by four points, 31-27 at halftime before outscoring Marymount 51-33 in the second quarter for the blow out victory.  The Blue Jays’ next game will be at the Rhodes Tip-Off Tournament on Saturday, November 18th against LeTourneau.  Tip-off is scheduled for 2:00 PM EST.

MCDANIEL GREEN TERROR at PENN STATE-BRANDYWINE 

MEDIA, Pa. – Junior G Isaac Ray’s 12 points and five assists helped the McDaniel Green Terror (1-0) open their 2017-18 men’s basketball schedule with an important road victory against the Penn State-Brandywine Nittany Lions (0-1), 66-62, at Brandywine Commons Wednesday night.

Sophomore F Devon Duvall came off the Green Terror bench to score 11 points and recorded six rebounds.  For the Nittany Lions, Senior F Terrance Brown had a double-double with 24 points and 10 rebounds.

The Nittany Lions led 36-30 at halftime, but the Green Terror opened up the second half on a 10-0 run in the first three minutes to take a 40-36 lead.

Ray nailed a three-point basket that gave McDaniel a 59-54 lead with 3:04 left on the clock.  Penn State-Brandywine responded with their own 5-0 run to tie the game at 59-59 before Ray drilled another trey and Junior F DJ Harper added another McDaniel lay-up to give the Green Terror another five-point lead, this time 64-59.

After Senior G Donte Winfield completed a three-point play to pull the Nittany Lions to 64-62, Junior G Austin Cannon connected with Harper for an easy Green Terror lay-up to seal the four-point victory for McDaniel.

The Green Terror’s next game will be their home-opener on Saturday, November 18th against Lynchburg.  That game is schedule to start at 7:00 PM EST.

GALLAUDET BISON at SAINT MARY’S MARYLAND SEAHAWKS

ST. MARY’S CITY, Md. – St. Mary’s Maryland’s (1-0) bench scored 42 of the team’s 80 points and the Seahawks held off a second half charge by the Gallaudet Bison (0-1) to hold on for an 80-75 victory Wednesday night at O’Brien ARC Arena.

Sophomore F Spencer Schultz came off the Seahawks bench to score a double-double (15 points and 10 rebounds). Senior G Ochae Bynum added 14 points and Senior W Chris Craft Jr. put in 13 points and seven boards off the St. Mary’s bench.

The Bison were led by Freshman G Preston Kelly with 19 points while Sophomore G Noah Valencia contributed 18 points.  Senior F Andy Cruz had 16 points and six rebounds in the loss.

St. Mary’s held a 14-point halftime lead at 38-24 before holding off the Bison for the five-point opening night win.  The Seahawks’ next game is on the road at Shenandoah on Friday, November 17th at 6:00 PM EST.

WASHINGTON COLLEGE SHOREMEN at SALISBURY SEA GULLS

SALISBURY, Md. – The Salisbury Sea Gulls (1-0) opened their 2017-18 season with a 32-point blow-out win against in-state rival, the Washington College Shoremen (0-1), 94-62, Wednesday night at home.

For the Sea Gulls, Senior F Barcikowski led all scorers with 19 points.  While teammate, Sophomore C Johnson Ogunyoye contributed seven points and 11 rebounds.

Washington College was led by Sophomore G Nick Schmelzer, who came off the bench to score 12 points.

Salisbury’s next game is Saturday, November 18th at Goucher College.  Tip-off is 4:00 PM EST.  The Shoremen’s next game is also at Goucher College, but on Sunday, November 19th at 2:00 PM EST.

SALISBURY SEA GULLS at VIRGINIA WESLEYAN MARLINS

VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. – Salisbury needed a 28-point fourth quarter to come from behind and defeat the Virginia Wesleyan Marlins (0-1), 61-48, Wednesday night in the season-opener for both teams.

Junior G Megan Konig had 19 points, seven rebounds and three assists in the Sea Gulls (1-0) victory.  Junior F Kaylyn French added 11 points, six rebounds and four steals while Senior PG Mary McDonagh contributed 10 points, eight rebounds and three steals.

Virginia Wesleyan’s Junior G Jayla Harris led all with 21 points.

Salisbury could only muster a total of 18 first-half points (eight in the first quarter and 10 in the second).  But, even with the inability for the Sea Gulls to muster any offense, they were only down by three points, 21-18 at halftime.

Konig ended the third quarter hot.  Hitting Salisbury’s first triple of the game with 1:01 left in the quarter, she pulled the Sea Gulls to within one point of Virginia Wesleyan’s lead, 32-31.  She would drain two free throws to give Salisbury the 33-32 lead going into the fourth quarter.

That’s when the Sea Gulls’ offense exploded.  Having shot under 30% in the first three quarters, Salisbury was 63.6% in the final 10 minutes.  The Sea Gulls opened the fourth on an 8-2 run to take their largest lead of the game at the time, 41-34.

What would be the nail in the coffin was McDonagh’s trey with two minutes left that gave Salisbury a 50-37 lead.  The Sea Gulls helped their own cause by hitting 11 of 14 free throws in the final 91 seconds to seal the victory.

Salisbury’s next game is on Friday, November 17th against the host tournament team, Kean University.  Tip-off is schedule for 7:00 PM EST.

ELIZABETHTOWN BLUE JAYS at STEVENSON MUSTANGS

OWINGS MILLS, Md. – A near-packed crowd of 617 at Owings Mills Gym was treated to the game of the night as the Stevenson Mustangs (1-0) needed overtime to defeat the Elizabethtown Blue Jays (0-1), 90-87, Wednesday night.

All five Blue Jays starters scored in double digits, led by Sophomore G Bryce Greene’s 23 points.  Sophomore F Connor Moffatt added 1o points and 17 rebounds.

Stevenson was led by top scorer, Senior G Denzel Wright and his 30 points.  Junior G Johnny Rhodes came off the Mustangs bench to score 19 points.

In the first half, the Blue Jays would have a nine-point lead after Junior G Brandon Berry’s three-point shot with 10:29 left gave them a 27-18 lead.

Mustangs went on a 6-0 run in the next 90 seconds to cut the lead down to 27-24.

Rhodes’ free throw with 4:13 left tied the score at 32-32.  He would then hit a lay-up four seconds later and gave Stevenson a 34-32 lead and their first since it was 4-2.

Junior G Michael Pastore drilled a three-pointer for Elizabethtown with a second on the clock and the Blue Jays took a 46-44 lead into halftime.

Wright’s lay-up with 15:08 left gave Stevenson their first second-half lead at 52-51.  Sophomore G/F Kyle Woolridge’s trey with 5:59 left gave the Mustangs their biggest lead of the game at that time, 67-63.

After Greene made a lay-up to make it 67-65, Junior F Marcus Dentley made a jump shot and Wright drained another three to give Stevenson a seven-point lead, 72-65 with 3:44 left.

Teams traded one free throw before Sophomore F Mark Terrell made a jump shot with 1:52 left and Stevenson had a 75-69 lead.

Moffatt made a jump-shot for the Blue Jays and Sophomore G Ethan Dubois scored a lay-up and the lead was down to 75-73 with 51 seconds to play.

Rhodes missed a lay-up with 38 seconds as it was blocked by Moffatt and Moffatt would score with 25 seconds left, tying the score at 75-75.

Stevenson held for the last shot of regulation but Dentley missed his three-pointer with two seconds left to send the game into overtime.

In the extra period, the Mustangs went on a 10-3 run, capped off by Wright’s three-pointer with 1:56 left to give Stevenson an 85-78 lead.

Moffatt hit a lay-up to close the lead down to 85-80 before Wright’s lay-up extended Stevenson’s lead to 87-80 with 47 seconds left.

Teams would trade lay-ups and Stevenson had an 89-82 lead with 32 seconds left.  Junior F Matt Thomas made a lay-up and Berry hit a triple and Elizabethtown cut the lead down to 89-87 with nine seconds on the clock.

Berry would then foul Junior G Jaylin Johnson of Stevenson.  Johnson hit the first from the charity stripe but missed the second and Moffatt grabbed the board before Greene’s triple with two seconds missed and Johnson secured the rebound and Stevenson won it’s home opener.

The Mustangs next travel to Meadville, Pennsylvania for the Greg Richards Tip-Off Tournament.  They play Washington And Jefferson on Friday, November 17th at 3:00 PM in the first game of the tourney.