Mariners Top Gophers, Hang on to Share of First

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.