The USMMA men’s basketball team defeated Goucher College in a close affair, 67-62, on Saturday night at the Gophers’ Decker Sports & Recreation Center. With the victory, their second in a row, the Mariners improve to 5-14 (2-9 Landmark), while Goucher falls to 3-17 (2-0 Landmark).
Sophomore Matt Miller scored 21 points for the second consecutive game, while junior David Smith added 18 points and nine rebounds. Junior Scott Dennin picked up his first double-double of the season with 10 points and a game-high 12 rebounds.
For his performances in the Mariners’ two Landmark victories this week, Miller was named the league’s men’s basketball athlete of the week on Monday. For the complete release from the Landmark Conference, click here.
The Gophers also had three players recorded double-digits in scoring, led by sophomores Chris Outing and Tre Galloway III, who both scored 16 points apiece. Senior Alex Noble added 14 points and classmate Brian Morton II brought down a team-high eight rebounds.
The game featured 15 lead changes throughout the 40 minutes, but the Gophers held the advantage during the latter stages of the opening half, building the lead up to as many as four points on three separate occasions, including with 1:40 remaining. However, a layup by Dennin at 1:34 followed by a pair of free throws by Miller at 59 seconds tied the score up at 34-34 before halftime.
The Mariners took their own four-point lead, 40-36, early in the second half, but eventually relinquished the lead, as the Gophers went on an 11-3 lead to go back up by four, 47-43, at 11:18. That was the highest the Goucher lead would get the rest of the way, however. Merchant Marine jumped back ahead at 7:41 on a three-pointer by junior Chris Jennings and capped off an 8-0 run with a three-point play by Miller at 6:46 to take a four-point lead.
The Gophers fought back to tie the game twice, but never took another lead, as the Mariners began to pull away with under a minute to go thanks to clutch free-throw shooting by Dennin, Miller and freshman Robbie Kennedy.
