The Virginia Wesleyan men's basketball team (22-7, 9-4 ODAC) dominated Salisbury University 74-50 to claim the schools first ever ECAC Championship!
All-Tournament Team:
MVP - #3
Omari DeVeaux
VWU - #15
Amari Moorer
VWU - #4
Khai Seargeant
Salisbury - #33 Jordan Oates
Salisbury - #3 Aidan Camper
McDaniel - #15 Jonas Sujeta
Omari DeVeaux registered 26 points, going 9-for-17 from the field, 3-for-8 from three-point territory, and 5-for-6 from the free throw line; he tallied five rebounds, four assists, and one steal.
Khai Seargeant recorded 18 points as he went 6-for-15 from the field, 5-for-13 from beyond the arc, and 1-for-3 from the free throw line; he also totaled two rebounds and one block.
Amari Moorer had a double-double as he scored 12 points, going 4-for-7 from the field, 1-for-1 from the free throw line, and 3-for-4 from the free throw line; he also made 10 rebounds, six assists, one block, and three steals.
Omari DeVeaux started the game with a layup, and
Amari Moorer executed a three-pointer to put the Marlins ahead 5-0 less than a minute into play. The SeaGulls responded with their first basket of the night, but were unable to keep up with the Marlins at the beginning of the first half. Between 18:17 and 15:01, the Marlins outscored Salisbury 7-2, stretching their lead to 15-4. Salisbury's Jordan Oates responded with back-to-back threes to minimize the gap to 15-10 with 13:35 remaining in play.
The Marlins went on a 6-0 run, solified by a dunk by
Amari Moorer, and took a 21-10 lead with 11:01 on the clock. Salisbury responded with a 6-0 run of their own to bridge the deficit once again to five points with 8:51 remaining in the half. VWU found success from beyond the arc with three three-pointers, outscoring the SeaGulls 9-3 between 8:31 and 3:55. The momentum shifted at the end of the half as Salisbury narrowed the gap to seven, entering halftime with the Marlins ahead 33-26.
VWU began the second half with a convincing 9-4 run, highlighed by threes from
Khai Seargeant and
Paul Anderson, to bring their lead to 42-30. Salisbury minimized the Marlin lead to ten with 14:53 remaining in play, but the home team refused to allow a comeback. Between 16:46 and 12:47, VWU went on an 8-0 run to take a 50-34 lead. The Marlin starters dominated the court as
Khai Seargeant sunk a three,
Omari DeVeaux and
Amari Moorer scored back-to-back fastbreak layups, and
Paul Anderson executed a three to give the Marlins their greatest lead of the night so far of 60-40 with 7:41 on the clock.
With little time remaining in play, Salisbury fouled the Marlins; but the home team shot precisely from the free throw line, going 6-for-7 between 6:51 and 4:07 to extend their lead to 68-42. In the remainder of play, the SeaGulls outscored the Marlins 8-6, but it was not enough to threaten the Marlin lead. Virginia Wesleyan ended the ECAC Championship with a 74-50 victory over the #2 seeded Seagulls of Salisbury University to claim the title for the first time in program history.
