Coast-to-Coast Athletic Conference Player of the Year Kye Robinson scored a game-high 24 points to lead the seventh ranked and top seeded University of mary Washington men's basketball team to a 55-46 victory over Salisbury University in the C2C Tournament semifinal round on Friday evening in Santa Cruz, Cal. The Eagles improve to 23-3 on the season, and advance to Saturday's championship.

Both teams started slowly on offense, as the score stood at just 15-15 with 7:12 remaining in the first half. The Eagles would score the next three points to lead, 18-15, but Salisbury responded with a 14-2 run over the final 3:48 to take a nine-point lead to halftime (29-20).

UMW got back into the contest quickly in the second half, starting the frame with a 10-0 run to take a 30-29 lead through 3:52 of the second. The lead remained close until a jumper and dunk from Robinson at 8:01 gave the Eagles a 42-37 lead. Following a Sea Gull basket, junior Jay Randall connected on a three pointer and Robinson added a jumper to extend the lead to eight, 47-39, with 5:58 left.

Salisbury closed the gap to as few as three, at 49-46 with 2:48 to go, but free throws from Robinson, Kaden Bates, Ulysses Young and Jadon Burgess kept the Eagles firmly in front until the final horn.

Robinson led all scorers with 24 points, on 8-17 shooting from the field and 8-10 from the free throw line. Randall went 6-10 from the floor to reach 14 points. Those two, along with Burgess, led with six rebounds each.

The Eagles shot just 37.5% from the floor (18-48), making 3-11 three point attempts and 16-29 free throws. Salisbury shot 36.5% (19-52), making 2-12 three point tries and 6-11 free throws. 

UMW will face the winner of Friday night's other semifinal, between the host Banana Slugs of UC Santa Cruz and Christopher Newport University on Saturday at 8:00 Eastern in Santa Cruz.