SALISBURY — The Shoremen opened the new year with their last non-conference basketball game of the 2025-26 season Monday, Jan. 5 at Salisbury University.
The Sea Gulls (8-7) rallied from a seven-point halftime deficit to slip past their guests from Chestertown, 72-71.
They lead the series, 23-13, and have won the last 12 games.
Salisbury closed on a 15-9 run over the final 6 minutes, 42 seconds to come all the way back from a 37-30 deficit at intermission.
The Shoremen scored first and trailed only twice in the first half, each time by only a point.
They took their largest lead of the game at 37-26 on a pair of Jaedon Harris free throws with 1:12 remaining before the break.
Aidan Camper completed a four-point play with six seconds to go to make it 37-30.
Washington led by as many as nine points in the second half, 52-43, on a Nolan Waldon three about six minutes in.
The Sea Gulls never led by more than four points in the second half — the first time at 66-62 after a run of nine unanswered points.
Churchill Bounds banked in four layups in just under three minutes of play to nudge Salisbury out in front, 63-62, with 4 minutes, 16 seconds remaining.
Joey Lutz padded the advantage from distance to make it a four-point game heading into the final media timeout.
Back-to-back layups from Washington’s Ty Woodland and Jon Nalty leveled the score at 68 with 33 seconds to go.
After a timeout, the Sea Gulls regained the lead for good when Leon Elung muscled home a layup.
Salisbury came up with a stop on the other end of the floor, leading to Camper getting fouled. With Salisbury in the bonus, Camper drained both tries from the stripe to extend the spread to 72-68 with only 4 seconds to go.
Ryan Lang’s 3-pointer at the buzzer made for the 72-71 final.
Lang finished with 11 points, joining Nalty (17), Waldon (13) and Davis Bland (12) in double-digit scoring.
The 6-foot-10, 255-pound Bounds, who played his high school ball for Stephen Decatur, scored 17 of his career-high 26 points in the second half. He also led all players with 12 points for a second double-double in as many games.
Camper contributed a season high of 17 points and Tyler Ball added 10.
Salisbury won the battle under the glass, 41-24, and registered a season high of 19 assists.
Washington is 10-2 heading into Saturday’s Centennial Conference opener against Ursinus (7-5). Tip-off is at 1 p.m. for the first game of a men’s-women’s doubleheader.
****
In a preseason poll of the conference’s 10 head coaches, Washington is picked to finish in a tie for eighth.
Defending champion Franklin & Marshall collected seven first-place votes and 78 points to head the poll.
Johns Hopkins earned the other three first-place votes and tallied 75 points to finish second.
Gettysburg was picked third with 61 points, followed by Swarthmore (58), Ursinus (53) and Dickinson (41) as projected playoff teams.
Then came McDaniel (27) in seventh, with Muhlenberg (22), Washington (22) and Haverford (13) closing out the poll.