ST. MARY'S CITY, MD – The St. Mary's College men's basketball team used a huge second half to sprint past the York College Spartans 74-55 in Capital Athletic Conference action on Wednesday night in St. Mary's City, Maryland.

St. Mary's outscored York 43-15 in the second half to turn a close game into a lopsided one. The Seahawks improve to 10-4 overall and 7-2 in the Capital Athletic Conference. The Spartans fall to 4-12 and are now 3-6 after their first circuit through the league loop.

Tanner Brooks got the Seahawks off to a strong start as he drained a trio of triples to give St. Mary's an early 9-5 lead just over five minutes into the game. The Spartans would battle back and tie the game at nine on a Dalton Myers (Finksburg, Md./Westminster) bucket. The Myers basket started a 12-2 Spartan run as the Green and White built a 19-11 lead.

St. Mary's eventually trimmed the York lead to two courtesy of a Garrett Snoops three followed by a Snoops' lay up. York went on an 11-2 run to push out to a 34-23 lead with just under three minutes left. The run was highlighted by five Myers free throws as York lead reached double figures for the first time in the game.

The York advantage grew to a game-high 12 on a Brad Wesner (Mechanicsburg, Pa./Trinity) triple with 2:22 left in the half but St. Mary's would score six of the final nine points of the half as the Spartans took a 40-31 lead to the break.

The Spartans shot 66.7% from the floor in the first half while they also went 12-for-16 from the free throw line.

The second half did not get off to a good start as it took St. Mary's just 5:07 to erase the Spartans' halftime lead as the Seahawks began the half by scoring seven straight points before Matt Scamuffo (Chalfont, Pa./Central Bucks South) hit a bucket for York's first points of the stanza. St. Mary's then hit York with a prolonged 20-0 run as the Seahawk lead ballooned to 16 points with 8:11 left in the game.

York got the lead back to 14 but St. Mary's quickly pushed the lead into the low 20's before the Seahawks settled for the 19-point win.

Brooks was the story in the game as he poured in 36 points in 37 minutes of work. Brooks was 10-for-20 from the floor including 6-for-15 from three and 10-for-11 from the free throw line. The 36 points were a St. Mary's career high for the junior but is two short of his personal career high, which came as a sophomore at Skidmore College. Brooks added four rebounds and five steals in the victory. The CAC's leading scorer, guard Nick LaGuerre, finished with 15 points for the Seahawks as he was 6-for-17 from the floor including 1-for-9 from three and 2-for-2 from the line. LaGuerre dished out six assists while he also had four steals.

Sophomore Tyler Alcid (Mt. Airy, Md./South Carroll) led the Spartans with 10 points in 20 minutes of play. Alcid was 3-for-4 from the floor and 4-for-5 from the free throw line. Myers, Max Bell (Finksburg, Md./Francis Scott Key), and Wesner each added nine points.

Turnovers were the key to the Spartans' demise in the loss as they committed 25 turnovers, 17 of which occurred in the second half. The Seahawks converted those turnovers into 32 points including 26 in the second stanza.

St. Mary's finished the game shooting 44.1% from the floor and 29.6% (8-for-27) from three. The Seahawks converted 14-of-17 (82.4%) from the charity stripe.

York finished the game shooting 48.5% despite going just 4-for-15 (26.7%) from the field in the second half. York was 4-for-10 from three and 19-for-24 (79.2%) from the free throw line in the loss.

St. Mary's outrebounded York 32-21 in the game as the Seahawks collected 19 offensive rebounds. St. Mary's also blocked five shots and notched a season-high 19 steals.

York begins the second half of league play on Saturday afternoon when they travel to the University of Mary Washington to face the Eagles in a 3:00 pm conference tilt in Fredericksburg, Virginia.

Tyler Alcid photo courtesy of David Sinclair