Sea Gulls fall behind early against Wolverines

DOVER, Del. - The Salisbury University men's basketball team lost 111-83 to Capital Athletic Conference foe Wesley College on Wednesday night at Wentworth Gymnasium. The Sea Gulls were victimized by seven Wesley players who tallied double-digit point totals.

Junior guard Greg Palmer led the Gulls (5-9, 2-3 CAC) with 17 points and eight rebounds. This is the ninth straight double-digit point game for the Salisbury, Md., native. Junior guard Ronald Mann had his second consecutive 15-point game. Fellow junior guard Devin Jones poured in 12 points and sophomore center Chris McGrew (10 points, nine rebounds) was one rebound shy of a double-double. Sophomore forward Ryan Hourihan notched a game-high 10 rebounds as the Sea Gulls held a 47-32 rebound edge.

Salisbury took three leads in the contests, all of which came in the first five minutes of the opening half. McGrew gave Salisbury its final lead of the game when he made a lay-up at the 15:10 mark to make the score 10-9. The lead did not last long as Wesley (7-5, 4-0 CAC) capped an 11-4 run on a Sean McAndrew lay-up. Jones buried a three-pointer with one second left in the first half as the Sea Gulls trailed 55-41 at intermission.

SU was able to cut the Wolverine lead 11 points, four minutes into the second half, when Palmer made his second three-pointer of the game. Wesley then went on an 18-5 run over the next six minutes that would ultimately push the Wolverine lead to 24 points, 80-56.

The Wolverine offense was spearheaded by CAC Player of the Week Rashawn Johnson (20 points, six rebounds), Alphonzo Wallace (17 points) and Rudy Thomas (12 points). Evan Martin, Kevin Johnson, and Jermaine Carter each netted 11 points while James Stratton added 10 points. Wesley benefitted from 14 three-pointers (14-for-29).

Salisbury looks to get back into the win column when the Sea Gulls return home to play Gallaudet University on Saturday, January 17, at 4 p.m.