CHESTERTOWN — Washington College junior guard Kevin Breslin (Hagerstown, MD/St. Maria Goretti) received PrestoSports/Pride of Maryland Player of the Week and Centennial Conference Player of the Week for the week ending December 5th. Breslin helped lead the Shoremen to a 2-0 week averaging 20 points in the two games and making the game-winning free throws in a one-point win over Muhlenberg.
The PrestoSports/Pride of Maryland Player of the Week Award is granted on a weekly basis on behalf of the Pride of Maryland Tournament Committee.
Each week, each of the nine Pride of Maryland schools (Maryland’s Division III schools with men’s basketball programs) has the ability to nominate one player for their on-court accomplishments over the previous week. The nominations are then voted on by an esteemed panel of media members.
For the week, Breslin averaged 20.0 points, 6.5 assists, and 5.5 rebounds in the two games while committing just three turnovers. He shot 12-for-26 from the field and 15-of-17 from the free-throw line in the two games.
Breslin narrowly missed a triple-double in the Shoremen’s 78-61 win over Haverford last Wednesday with 16 points, nine rebounds, and a career-best nine assists.
In the Shoremen’s 77-76 win over Muhlenberg Saturday, Breslin made a pair of free throws with 5.6 seconds left to lift the Shoremen to a dramatic victory. He finished with 24 points in that game, including 16 in the second half.
Washington College battled Muhlenberg the entire game, as the lead changed hands 14 times, and neither team led by more than 5 points at any time during the second half.
A pair of free-throw shots with 32 seconds left had given the Mules a 76-73 cushion. Breslin missed a three on the Shoremen’s next possession, but an offensive rebound by junior guard Mark DeBoy (Baltimore, MD/Mount St. Joseph) led to a drive and lay-in by Breslin, which trimmed the margin to 76-75. Following a Washington timeout, Muhlenberg was unable to get the ball inbounds before the Mules were whistled for a five-second violation, turning the ball back over to the Shoremen. Breslin was then fouled on a drive to the basket with 5.6 seconds left and sank both free throws to give the Shoremen a 77-76 lead. A long three-pointer by Curry on the Mules’ final possession was off the mark and the Shoremen came away with the win.
Breslin finished with a team-high 24 points for the Shoremen, including a perfect eight-for-eight performance at the charity stripe. The Shoremen committed just six turnovers in the game, while scoring 29 points to take advantage of the 20 turnovers by the Mules to give them the edge in the game. Despite the WC win, Mules out-shot the Shoremen, going 51% from the field, 46% from three-point range, and 68% from the line. Washington was 46%, 14%, and 63%, respectively.
A few days later against Swarthmore, sophomore forward Charlie McShane (West Deptford, NJ/West Deptford) helped the Shoremen to their third win in as many games, scoring 16 of his career-high and game-best 23 points in the first half as Washington College came away with the 74-64 win.
Washington raced out to an 8-0 lead, but the Garnet trimmed the lead to 19-18. The remainder of the first half was back and forth, as the Garnet scored and the Shoremen – namely McShane – kept reclaiming the lead. At the half, Washington was up, 31-28.
The team came out strong in the second half, scoring the first four points to go up, 35-28, but Swarthmore scored the next five points to trim the lead to 35-33. Again, McShane responded with his fifth three-pointer to make it a 38-33 game. The Garnet scored three in a row, but the Shoremen countered with a quick 6-0 run to lead 44-36 with 14:00 to go in the contest, sparking a 16-6 run for the Shoremen to put them up, 54-42.
Swarthmore again threatened, but the Shoremen held on for the win on the road.
In addition to his 23 points, McShane grabbed seven rebounds to tie his career-best and had a game-best and career-high three blocks for WC.
Breslin scored 15 points, nine of which came after halftime. Bernstein scored all eight of his points from the free throw line in the final 71 seconds and he also set a career-high with six steals.
Washington shot 42% from the floor, 37% from three-point range and 78% from the free throw line, including a perfect 14-for-14 in the final 3:01. Swarthmore shot 36% from the field, 22% from behind the arc and 67% from the charity stripe. Washington forced 15 turnovers and turned it into 21 points, while Swarthmore turned over Washington 12 times, but could only score 10 points off the miscues.
The men’s basketball team returns to action in a Centennial Conference game at McDaniel on Saturday, at 2:00 p.m.
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