MURFREESBORO, Tenn. - Westminster men's basketball dropped a 56-50 game against Marymount in their return from the holiday break.
The Blue Jays fall to 5-4 with the loss.
"In the first half we played like we'd been on break for seven days," said Westminster Head Coach Matt Mitchell. "We were sluggish and had a lot of turnovers."
The Blue Jays struggled to score in the first half, with all four of Westminster's points in the first five minutes coming from Sean O'Brien. With 10 minutes to play in the first half, the Blue Jays had tallied just eight points and found themselves behind 17-8 to the Saints.
The Blue Jays added five quick points on a jumper from Tanner Gentges and a three-pointer from Jimmy Villalobos with 7 minutes to play in the half, but again hit a scoring drought until O'Briend added two freethrows two minutes later.
Despite the low scoring half for Westminster, the Blue Jays only trailed 29-20 going into the half.
"We gained some rhythm and energy in the second half and played much better," said Mitchell. "We got some good minutes from Collin Caywood and Casey McCollum and they kept us in the game during the second half."
Westminster steadily chipped away at the deficit, starting with three freethrows from Romo Tabb and a layup from Zach Nelson to make the score 30-25.
At the 14:05 mark, the Saints took a double-digit lead, extending it to as many as 15 with an 11-2 run over four minutes.
Westminster went on a 10-0 run of its own, capped by back-to-back three-pointers from Caywood. O'Brien sunk two freethrows to pull the Blue Jays back within three at 50-47 with two minutes remaining.
The Saints went on a quick 4-0 to keep their lead. O'Brien made the score 54-50 with 17 seconds left, but it wasn't enough for the Blue Jays.
"Marymount is a very athletic team that plays physical defense," said Mitchell. "They were clearly the better team today."