Strong Second Half Propels Mount St. Mary's to 64-51 Win Over Saint Francis (Pa.)

Final	1	2	T
Saint Francis (Pa.) (5-17, 4-7 NEC)	29	22	51
Mount St. Mary's (6-16, 4-7 NEC)	25	39	64
Emmitsburg, Md./Knott Arena

Saint Francis (Pa.)	Mount St. Mary's
Pts: 2 Players (#05, #15 - 12)	Pts: Kelvin Parker - 20
Reb: BROWN, Earl - 5	Reb: Kristijan Krajina - 7
Ast: RITTER, Kameron - 5	Ast: Josh Castellanos - 7

Team Statistics	Saint Francis (Pa.)	Mount St. Mary's
Field Goal %	48.8% (21-43 )	47.3% (26-55 )
Rebounds	19	34
Assists	12	14
Turnovers	18	15
Pts off Turnovers	9	18
2nd Chance Pts	2	16
Pts in the Paint	28	32
Fastbreak Pts	0	2
Bench Pts	22	12

full stats

Emmitsburg, Md. (February 2, 2012)--Freshman Kelvin Parker scored a career high 20 points to lead Mount St. Mary's to a 64-51 victory over visiting Saint Francis (Pa.) on Thursday night at Knott Arena.  Trailing 29-25 at the half, the Mountaineers (6-16, 4-7 NEC) outscored the Red Flash 39-22 in the second half to pull away for the win.

The Mount opened the second half on a 16-5 run to take the lead for good at 43-36 with 12:12 left in the game.  Parker keyed the run with eight consecutive points, including back-to-back three-pointers that extended the lead to 39-35.

After a Saint Francis free throw, Raven Barber and Danny Thompson had back-to-back dunks on feeds from Josh Castellanos to stretch the lead to 43-36.  Saint Francis answered with four consecutive points, but the Mount put the game away with a 15-2 spurt to make the score 57-42 with 2:29 left.

Six different Mountaineers scored during the 15-2 run that was capped by a Parker lay-up, a Ja'Colby Wells bucket in the paint, and a Parker tip-in of his own miss.

Parker finished the game with 20 points, four rebounds and three assists for his first collegiate 20-point effort.  He was 8-for-13 from the field and 4-for-7 from three-point range.  The freshman walk-on is averaging 15.7 points over the past three games.

Castellanos added 15 points and seven assist while Julian Norfleet chipped in 11 points in the victory.  The Mount held a commanding 34-to-19 advantage on the boards in the game, including 11 offensive rebounds on 14 misses shots in the second half.

Earl Brown and Stephon Whyatt led the Red Flash (5-17, 4-7 NEC) with 12 points each in the loss.

The Mount has now won five in a row against Saint Francis (Pa.) and 13 of the last 14 games in the series.

Mount St. Mary's returns to action on Saturday, February 4, when Robert Morris visits for a 4:00 p.m. contest.