Mariners Pin 85-77 Setback on Visiting Gophers
KINGS POINT, N.Y. — Goucher had five players score in double figures this afternoon and still the Gophers couldn't notch their first Landmark Conference victory of the 2011-12 season. Instead, they were handed an 85-77 setback by the U.S. Merchant Marine Academy.
Cotton, Four More Goucher Players Score in Double Figures
KINGS POINT, N.Y. — Goucher had five players score in double figures this afternoon and still the Gophers couldn't notch their first Landmark Conference victory of the 2011-12 season. Instead, they were handed an 85-77 setback by the U.S. Merchant Marine Academy.
With Marcus Cotton (Silver Spring, Md./Springbrook) supplying eight of the points and Manney Wood (Washington, D.C./C. H. Flowers) the remaining six, the Gophers (3-14, 0-7 Landmark Conference) jumped out to a 14-9 lead. The first player other than Cotton or Wood to score for Goucher was Shane Yambor (Burtonsville, Md./Paint Branch), who put his team up 18-17 by making a layup with 9:42 left to play in the first half.
The score was tied on four separate occasions over the next 3:26, the final time at 25-25 thanks to layup by Leroy Williams (Baltimore, Md./Patapsco). But then the Mariners (7-11, 2-5 Landmark) tallied the next 10 points of the contest and, by halftime, they had opened up a 45-34 advantage.
Goucher didn't make its first field goal of the second half until more than three minutes had run off the clock, opening the door for Merchant Marine to expand its lead to 49-35, which turned out to be its largest of the contest. Right after that, Damon Brooks (Takoma Park, Md./Springbrook) and Richard Harris (Clinton, Md./Surrattsville) landed 3-point baskets on back-to-back possessions for the Gophers, but head coach Leonard Trevino's squad trailed by at least five points the rest of the way.
Led by the game-high 18-point effort by Alex Noble (Clinton, Md./Surrattsville), reserves provided 41 of Goucher's total of 77 points. Brooks and Harris came off the bench to score 11 and 10 points, respectively. The two starters who finished in double figures were Cotton with 16 points and Wood with a dozen.
Michael Farace finished as the leading scorer for Merchant Marine as he contributed 17 points to the victory.
The Gophers out-rebounded the Mariners, 34-31.