Emmitsburg, Md. (December 21, 2007)--Mount St. Mary's staged a furious rally from a 22-point second-half deficit, but came up just short as Lafayette earned a 76-72 win at Knott Arena on Friday night. Lafayette's Andrew Brown poured in a career high 32 points, including a key three-pointer late in the game, to pace the Leopards (8-3) to the victory. Chris Vann (Woodbridge, Va./Gar-Field) tallied a team-high 27 points to pace the Mount, which saw its six-game win streak snapped.

Michael Gruner's jumper with 13:30 remaining in the game gave Lafayette a commanding 59-37 advantage and the Leopards held a 65-45 lead with 10:05 on the clock. The Mount (6-5) responded with a 28-to-7 run, capped by a Will Holland (Houston, Texas/Lamar) three-pointer with 40 seconds remaining to cut the Lafayette lead to 73-72. On the ensuing possession, Brown buried his ninth three-pointer of the game from the top of the key to seal the victory.

"We showed a lot of guts to make a push to come back so it was definitely a tough loss, not so much as we came up short, but that we were down so much in the first place," said Mount St. Mary's head coach Milan Brown.

Lafayette took control of the game in the first half with a 24-4 run to grab a 32-12 lead with 7:13 left in the first half. Brown hit four three-pointers during the run to pace the Leopards. Lafayette went to the locker room with a 45-25 lead on the strength of 8-of-15 shooting from three-point range.

Vann hit a career-best seven three-pointers for the Mount en route to his 27-point effort. It was his fourth 20-point game of the season and 11th of his career. Jeremy Goode (Charlotte, N.C./Providence Day) added 17 points, seven assists and three steals in the loss. Brown was the only Lafayette player to score in double figures, hitting 11-of-16 from the field and setting a school record by hitting 9-of-14 from three-point range.

Lafayette finished the game hitting 55.1 percent from the floor and 11-of-22 (50.0 percent) from three-point range. The Mount shot 40.7 percent in the game and was 11-of-26 (.423) from beyond the arc.

The Mount returns to action next Friday, Dec. 28, when they travel to nationally ranked Oregon for a 10:00 p.m. (ET) game.

Game Notes...The Mount's six-game win streak was the second-longest since the school moved to NCAA Division I in 1988-89...Vann is averaging 24.0 points over the past two games...Brown's 32-point effort was the 14th-best scoring mark in the history of Knott Arena...Lafayette had defeated the Mount in each of the past three seasons to take a 3-0 lead in the all-time series.