Mariners Top Gophers, Hang on to Share of First
TOWSON, Md. Two of the four teams that began the weekend tied for first place in the Landmark Conference had already gone down and Goucher had a chance to knock off one more. But before a Sports & Recreation Center crowd of 570 tonight, Merchant Marine was able to assemble an eight-point lead by halftime and then hang on to defeat the Gophers, 76-70.
Mariners Top Gophers, Hang on to Share of First
Cotton Tallies Season-High 22 Points in 76-70 Setback
January 30, 2009
TOWSON, Md. – Two of the four teams that began the weekend tied for first place in the Landmark Conference had already gone down and Goucher had a chance to knock off one more. But before a Sports & Recreation Center crowd of 570 tonight, Merchant Marine was able to assemble an eight-point lead by halftime and then hang on to defeat the Gophers, 76-70.
Marcus Cotton (Silver Spring, Md./Springbrook) supplied the Gophers (5-13, 3-6 Landmark) with 10 points in the first half, but the Mariners received 18 points from their bench in opening up a 29-21 advantage. Goucher was just 7-for-21 from the field (.333) in opening period.
Merchant Marine's lead reached double digits just :12 into the second half as Matt Heuber converted a lay-up, but it would never go higher than 10 points. The Gophers closed to within two points on five different occasions, the final time on a basket by Cotton with 7:52 remaining.
The two teams combined to score a total of 22 points in the final :59. Joel Smith (Nottingham, England/Cardinal Gibbons) landed a pair of shots from three-point range and Micah Perry (Silver Spring, Md./Springbrook) nailed one of his own to account for nine of Goucher's 11 points, but the Mariners (12-8, 7-2 Landmark) matched the Gophers point-for-point down the stretch by going 11-of-14 at the free-throw line.
Cotton led all scorers as he produced a season-high 22 points before fouling out in the closing seconds. Perry and Miguel Negron (Bel Air, Md./Bel Air) added 14 and 10 points, respectively.
The Mariners' top scorer was Tom Izzo with 13 points.
