Schittino Leads Shoremen with 17 Points in Loss

CHESTERTOWN, MD -- Deon Queen scored 16 points to lead the  15th-ranked St. Mary's College of Maryland men's basketball team to a 78-74 win over host Washington College in the first round of the Pride of Maryland Championship tonight in Cain Athletic Center. The game was the season opener for both teams. 

St. Mary's held a 75-74 lead when Washington called timeout with the ball with 17 seconds remaining in the second half.  Washington junior guard Mark DeBoy (Baltimore, MD/Mount St. Joseph) missed a jump shot from just beyond the free-throw line with seven seconds left. Nick LaGuerre rebounded the ball for the Seahawks and was fouled with just over two seconds remaining.  LaGuerre made the front end of a one-and-one and Christian MacAuley dunked home the back-end miss as time expired to provide the final margin.

Washington held a slim 42-41 lead at halftime after senior guard Ryan Kearney (Glenolden, PA/Haverford School) made one of two free throws with five seconds left before the break. Washington shot 58% from the field in the first half, while St. Mary's shot 46%.

Washington took its biggest lead of the game by scoring the first four points of the second half, surging ahead, 46-41, on a dunk by junior forward Charlie McShane (West Deptford, NJ/West Deptford) with 18:56 remaining. The Seahawks answered with an 11-1 run, capped off by a lay-up by LaGuerre, to jump ahead, 57-52, with 15:06 to go. St. Mary's led the rest of the way, going up by as many as eight points three times. 

A 7-0 run by the Shoremen pulled Washington to within one point at 66-65 on a three-pointer by senior guard Sal Schittino (Ellicott City, MD/Loyola Blakefield) with 8:51 left. Devin Spencer countered with a trey of his own for the Seahawks on the next possession to push the lead back to four points.  

The St. Mary's lead stood at 75-70 with less than a minute to go before Washington senior forward Chris Olsen (Ellicott City, MD/Mount St. Joseph) made two free throws with 55 seconds remaining and two more with 49 seconds left to cut the lead to 75-74. Spencer missed a lay-up, but got the rebound and was fouled on the next St. Mary's possession. He went to the free-throw line for a one-and-one with 24 seconds to go, but missed the front end. Olsen grabbed the board to set up the final sequence. St. Mary's shot 64% from the floor in the second half, while Washington shot just 39%.

Queen's 16 points came in 19 minutes off the bench and on 6-for-6 shooting from the field, including 3-for-3 from beyond the arc. He also made his only free throw. Brian Grashof added 13 points for the Seahawks, while Spencer finished with 12 points and four assists. LaGuerre added 11 points for St. Mary's, while Kyle Wise tallied nine points, four assists, and six steals. 

Schittino paced the Shoremen with 17 points on 6-for-12 shooting from the field, including 3-of-5 shooting from long range, and 2-of-2 shooting at the charity stripe. Olsen added a career-best 16 points to go along with three steals, while freshman forward Mark Henry (Spring City, PA/Owen J. Roberts) poured in 14 points and hauled down eight rebounds in 15 minutes off the bench. Kearney added career highs of six points and five assists in a career-high 25 minutes. 

The Seahawks out-rebounded the Shoremen, 36-28, but committed 20 turnovers to the Shoremen's 11. 

St. Mary's will play at Johns Hopkins in a Pride of Maryland semifinal Friday at 8:00. The Shoremen will play at Goucher in a consolation semifinal Friday, also at 8:00 p.m.