Mount St. Mary's used a strong second half to push past the Fairleigh Dickinson University men's basketball team, 81-62, on Thursday evening in Emmitsburg, MD. The Knights fall to 2-12 on the season, with a 2-3 mark in Northeast Conference play, while the Mountaineers improve to 6-9, including a 1-3 record in league action.
The Knights had five players in double-digits, led by 13 points from Cameron Tyler (Jamaica, NY/Notre Dame Prep (MA)). Alvin Mofunanya (Englewood, NJ/Dwight Morrow), Sean Baptiste (North Brunswick, NJ/St. Josephs of Metuchen) and Terence Grier (Cranford, NJ/St. Thomas More Prep) each added 12 points. Mofunanya was just shy of a double-double with nine rebounds, while Baptiste pulled down seven.
FDU opened the game with a 7-0 run, with the first four points coming on back-to-back buckets from Kamil Svrdlik (Prerov, Czech Republic/Gymnazium Zlin). Mount St. Mary's scored six unanswered points to make it a one-point game five minutes into the first half. But the Knights responded, taking a 13-8 lead on a shot just inside the arc by Mofunanya.
Mount's first 12 points were scored by six different players. The Mountaineers took their first lead of the game, 19-18, on a three-pointer by Jean Cajou with 9:32 on the clock.
The two teams traded baskets over the next four minutes, with eight lead changes and no team leading by more than one point, until Mount put together an 8-1 run to pull ahead, 33-26. The run was sparked by six-straight points from Will Holland, who sank one from behind the arc before driving down the middle to convert an old-fashioned three-point play.
The Mountaineers out-scored the Knights, 19-10, over the final six minutes of the half to take a double-digit lead, 44-34, entering the half.
Grier led all scorers in the first frame with 10 points, shooting 5-of-7 from the floor, while Svrdlik added eight points. The Mount held an edge on the boards, 19-11; the Knights were only able to grab one offensive board in the first half. The Knights held an edge in shooting percentage in the first half, 56-52.6 percent.
FDU was able to cut it down to an eight-point deficit, 46-38, on a lay-up from Tyler, but Mount St. Mary's out-scored the Knights, 11-2, over the next five minutes, capped by a layup from Shawn Atupem with 14:37 on the clock for a 57-40 lead.
Tyler connected on a pair from the line with 9:20 remaining in the game to make it 62-47, but a trey from Jeremy Goode pushed the Mount's lead up to 70-50 with just under seven minutes left to play.
Another pair of free throws by Tyler cut the Mount's lead to 71-55, but an 8-2 run gave the Mountaineers their largest lead of the game, 79-57 with 3:28 remaining.
Svrdlik connected on 1-of-2 from the free throw line with a minute left to make the final 81-62.
Mount St. Mary's out-scored the Knights in the paint, 24-16 and allowed the Knights no second-chance points. The Mountaineers held a 42-31 edge o the boards and finished the game shooting 51 percent, while holding the Knights to 43 percent.
Cajou and Atupem each had 15 points to lead the Mountaineers.
“We knew that it was going to be a fast-paced game and our transition defense late in the first half was not good,” said Head Coach Tom Green. “We couldn't stop the dribble penetration, which caused the 10-point difference at halftime. The second half just seemed to be a little more of the same and we couldn't find a way to come back.”
“We just really had six guys that played quality time,” said Green. “We were asking them to be marathon men and asking them to play too many minutes without rest. The Mount came out with a good game plan and had some very balanced scoring. They got 16 more shots than we did, which has been our problem all year.”
The Knights will return home to host Central Connecticut on Saturday, Jan. 10 at 7:00 p.m.
