Emmitsburg, Md. (February 17, 2007)--Monmouth freshman Jhamar
Youngblood's three-pointer with 17.7 seconds left lifted Monmouth
past Mount St. Mary's, 61-60, in Northeast Conference action on
Saturday night at Knott Arena. The Hawks rallied (12-15, 7-8 NEC)
from a four-point deficit in the last minute to earn the win.
Mount St. Mary's senior Mychal Kearse scored his 1,000th career
point in the loss.
Trailing 52-46 with 4:31 remaining, the Mount scored six
straight points on back-to-back three-pointers by Kearse and Chris
Vann to even the score at 52-52 with 2:50 remaining. The teams
traded baskets until Vann forced a steal and converted a fast-break
lay-up on a feed from Kelly Beidler to give the Mount a 58-56
advantage with 1:38 on the clock.
Beidler then got a steal on the next possession and Kearse made
the score 60-56 with a lay-up with 50 seconds left. It was that
basket that gave Kearse 1,001 career points as he became the 38th
player in Mount history to record 1,000 career points. Monmouth's
Dejan Delic then converted two free throws to cut the deficit to
58-56, with 40 seconds left, and the Mount then turned the ball
over to Monmouth on the next possession, setting up Youngblood's
three-pointer from the right wing that gave the Hawks a 61-60
lead.
The Mount had two chances to win at the end. Kearse missed a
jumper with seven seconds left, and Monmouth's John Bunch was
fouled on the rebound with 4.7 seconds remaining. Bunch, however,
missed both free throws. The Mount's Sam Atupem rebounded the
second miss and got the ball to Jeremy Goode, who drove the length
of the court only to have his shot at the buzzer smothered by a
Monmouth defender.
Mount St. Mary's (9-18, 8-8 NEC) used an 8-2 first-half run to
take its biggest lead of the game, 28-18, with 3:24 left in the
half. The Hawks, however, outscored the Mount 8-2 the rest of the
half to cut the Mount lead to 30-26 at the break.
Marques Alston scored 12 of his team-high 15 points in the
second half to lead Monmouth in the game. 7-2 center John Bunch
added 11 points, 14 rebounds and six blocks off the bench in the
win. Kearse paced the Mount with 15 points and 10 rebounds in the
game for his 12th career double-double. Vann added 13 points and
Goode eight points, seven assists and seven rebounds in the
loss.
Monmouth held the Mount to 36.7 percent shooting in the game
while converted 48.0 percent.
Mount St. Mary's returns to action on Thursday, Feb. 22, with a
7:00 p.m. game at Wagner.
Game Notes: It was the final regular season
home game of the season for the Mount which honored seniors Kirk
Bunn, Gavin Coco, Gus Durr, Mychal Kearse, Guyvans Richard and Nick
Whitney prior to the game...Kearse's 12 career double-doubles are a
the third-most by a Mount player since the school went to NCAA
Division I in 1988-89...The Mount has now dropped five of its past
six games to fall into a three-way tie for fifth in the NEC.
