Arlington, Va. — The Southern Vermont College men's basketball team lost a tightly-contested game Saturday evening, falling 73-69 at Marymount University in non-conference action.
The Saints improve to 3-0 on the year while the loss sets SVC at 2-2 this season.
SVC junior DeShawn Hamlet (Hartford, Connecticut) led all players with a 30-point performance with over half of those coming from the free throw line (18-20); he added a team-best eight rebounds in the effort. Classmate Casey Hall (Albany, New York) followed with 13 points and five rebounds to go along with three blocked shots.
Marymount was led offensively by senior Jesse Konadu (Alexandria, Virginia) who had 18 points while adding three assists to his line, and classmate JC Hoellich (Chesapeake Beach, Maryland) just missed a double-double with 16 points and a game-high nine rebounds.
The Mountaineers shot 43.2 percent from the floor (19-44) while Marymount had an edge in field goals made with a 22-58 clip (37.9 percent). MU held a slight 18-15 advantage in forced turnovers, but the Saints were able to utilize those for 25 points off takeaways compared to 11 on the SVC side.
Southern Vermont started out strong, going up 15 midway through the first half after a Hamlet layup put the Mountaineers ahead 25-8 at the 10:35 mark. The Saints chipped away at the deficit through the rest of the stanza before taking their first lead of the game (33-32) with 20 seconds to go on a jumper by Hoellich. A pair of converted free throws from SVC junior captain Antoine White (Bethesda, Maryland) with five ticks left sent the visitors into their locker room with a slight 34-33 advantage.
Hamlet had 10 points in the opening period, connecting on all three of his field goal attempts off the bench, and Hall was 5-7 for 10 points while swatting two Saint shots. Hoellich matched with another 10 points and grabbed four rebounds before the break.
Neither side could pull away in the second, the first seven minutes of the half seeing three lead changes and the score tied twice. A Konadu tip-in with 10:38 left to play put Marymount ahead 46-45, and the hosts were able to keep the advantage the rest of the way. SVC kept close, never trailing by more than four until the 2:17 mark when a Konadu free throw made it 63-58.
The Mountaineers refused to let up, cutting it to 70-67 on a three-ball by White with 41 seconds left on the clock. After a pair of Konadu free throws, Hall made a layup off an offensive rebound and subsequently stole the ball from the Saints. He would be fouled, however, and went to the charity stripe for a pair with his team down by three. A final Konadu free throw clinched the victory that keeps the Saints undefeated on the season.
Southern Vermont next tosses it up with Castleton State College at home next Sunday, November 30 at 3 p.m. Marymount travels to Southern Virginia University on Tuesday for a 6 p.m. tilt to kick off the two teams' Capital Athletic Conference schedules.