Butler paces Green Terror to most lopsided victory since 2008 opener

KINGS POINT, N.Y. – Woody Butler (Smithsburg, Md./Middletown) tallied a season-high 16 points to lead McDaniel to a 70-37 non-conference men's basketball victory over Vaughn in the consolation game of the Merchant Marine Academy Holiday Tournament on Monday.

Louis Sarris-Grau (Huntingdon Valley, Pa./Lower Moreland) and Cullen Murray-Kemp (Trappe, Md./Easton) also reached 11 points for the Green Terror (5-6), who recorded its most lopsided victory since a 100-55 win over Penn State-York to open the 2008-09 season – head coach Kevin Curley's second at the helm.

For Sarris-Grau, the 11 points snapped a two-game scoreless drought – the first two times in his 50 games played that he did not score a point.

It marked the second time this season that the McDaniel defense held an opponent to 40 or fewer points in a game. The 37 were the fewest allowed by the Green Terror since a 40-35 victory at Catholic on Feb. 24, 1948.

Mahdi Macbahi led the Warriors (5-7) with eight points and seven rebounds.

Baskets from three different players staked McDaniel to a 7-0 lead through the first 2:56 of the game before Al-Ameen Kabba hit a jumper and Macbahi converted a free throw to draw Vaughn within 7-4 with 14:37 to play in the opening half.

Five straight points by Christopher Cowles (West Chester, Pa./Bayard Rustin), who scored seven points in the game to earn a spot on the all-tournament team, capped a 13-6 stretch that extended the Green Terror lead to double digits for the first time at 20-9 with 8:09 showing.

Two Devon Lesniak (Westminster, Md./Winters Mill) free throws in the waning seconds of the half to extend his streak of made attempts from the charity stripe to 22 and give McDaniel a 36-15 lead at the break.

Macbahi hit the first basket of the second half to momentarily cut the deficit to 19 but Murray-Kemp converted a layup with 16:52 on the clock to spark a 19-9 stretch that pushed the lead to 55-26 with 8:06 showing.

A Sarris-Grau layup sandwiched between two Butler dunks made it a 63-31 game with 4:57 remaining en route to the 33-point win.

Butler added a team-best eight rebounds while Cowles had five assists.

McDaniel returns to action at Muhlenberg on Saturday. Game time is 4 p.m.

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