St. Mary's rallied from a 30-20 halftime deficit to knock on the door several times in the second half, but the Seahawks were never able to catch Va. Wesleyan and were eliminated from the NCAA Div. III Men's Basketball Tournament with a 70-57 loss Saturday.

Sophomore forward Christian MacAuley led both teams with 21 points and added a team-best eight rebounds for St. Mary's, the CAC regular-season champions that finished with a 20-8 overall record.  Devin Spencer also chipped in 11 points for the Seahawks.

Chris Teasley posted a game-high 13 points for Va. Wesleyan and was one of four players in double figures for the winners.

SMC hit just seven of 26 field goal attempts, including 1-for-4 from three point range, and committed 14 turnovers in the 20 minutes.  A nine-point run by the hosts midway through the first half gave Va. Wesleyan a 23-14 advantage.  SMC never got closer than eight points the rest of the opening half and trailed by 10 at the break.

Va. Wesleyan scored the first six points of the second half and led 46-27 with 10:21 left when MacAuley started a 13-0 SMC run that cut the gap to just six points.  DeVohn Gilmore's jumper with 7:26 left cut Va. Wesleyan's lead to 46-40, but the hosts responded with four straight points to regain a double-digit advantage.

Twice in the last four minutes, SMC cut the lead to seven points, but that's as close as the Seahawks would get as the hosts hit eight out of 10 free throws in the last 44 seconds to seal the victory.