Easton, Pa. (January 2, 2009)—Will Holland (Houston, Texas/Lamar) scored a season-high 19 points off the bench to lead Mount St. Mary's to a 67-62 win at Lafayette on Friday afternoon. The Mount used a pair of big scoring runs in the second half to earn the victory.

Leading 30-29 at the half, the Mount opened the second stanza by scoring 10 straight points for a 40-29 advantage with 15 minutes left in the game. Jeremy Goode (Charlotte, N.C./Providence Day) capped the run with a fast-break lay-up and a pair of free throws.

After the teams exchanged baskets, the Leopards (1-11) canned back-to-back three-pointers from Michael Gruner and Andrew Brown to cut the Mount's lead to 42-37.

The Mount, however, answered with an 11-0 spurt to take a 53-37 lead with 9:19 left in the game. Holland scored the final eight points of the run on a pair of three-pointers and two free throws. Sam Atupem (Newport News, Va./Woodside) started the streak with a traditional three-point play.

Lafayette was able to cut the Mount's lead to 59-53 with 5:33 remaining after a pair of Jeff Kari free throws, but the Mount was able to hold the Leopards at bay.

Holland, who had a previous season-high of nine points this year, capped his day with an emphatic dunk with 2:19 left on a feed from Pierre Brown (Williamsburg, Va./Jamestown) that gave the Mount a 63-55 advantage. He finished with 19 points and six rebounds, hitting 7-of-11 from the field and 3-for-4 from three-point range.

Goode finished with 15 points, five rebounds, three assists and two steals for the Mount (5-8) while Jean Cajou (Fairfax, Va./Paul VI) added 11 points in the win. Goode now has 991 career points for the Mount and needs nine to become the 40^th player in school history to reach the 1,000-point plateau.

Cajou held Lafayette's Brown to one field goal and five points in the second half after the guard scored a team-high 11 points in the first half. Brown scored a career-high 32 points in Lafayette's 76-72 win over the Mount last season. Jeff Mintz added 10 points off the bench for the Leopards.

In the first half, the Mount raced to a 12-4 lead behind five consecutive points from Holland. The Leopards answered with a 10-0 run and held a 23-19 advantage with 5:40 left in the half. The Mount, however, used an 11-to-6 run to close the half for a 30-29 advantage.

The Mount was 10-for-17 (.588) from the field in the second half and hit 15-of-19 (.789) at the charity stripe to earn the win. For the game, the Mountaineers shot 42.0 percent from the field and 76.9 percent at the stripe. Mount St. Mary's held a 37-to-25 advantage on the boards, including 17 on the offensive glass.

Lafayette converted 38.5 percent from the field in the second half, including 5-of-15 (.333) from three-point range. The Mount held the Leopards to 62 points, marking the seventh-straight game the Mount has held the opponent to under 70 points. The Mount leads the Northeast Conference in scoring defense (65.1 ppg) and field goal percentage defense (.417) this season.

"It was a great effort today," said Mount St. Mary's head coach Milan Brown. "We were able to make plays down the stretch and earn a good road win. We got great contributions off our bench from Will Holland and Pierre Brown. They provided the spark that we needed. In addition, Jean Cajou did a great job defending Andrew Brown and Jeremy Goode had a tremendous floor game for us."

The Mount returns to Northeast Conference play on Monday, January 5^th, when rival Robert Morris heads to Knott Arena for a 7:00 p.m. tilt. The Mount and Robert Morris have met nine times over the past three seasons, including a 78-61 Mount victory in the NEC semifinals last year.

Game Notes...The win was the Mount's first-ever over Lafayette after falling to the Leopards in each of the previous three seasons...Pierre Brown's seven points were a career high...Holland's career high is 25 points set at George Washington last season...Each team committed 20 turnovers in the contest...The Mount finished with a 5-6 record this season in non-conference games...Mount St. Mary's has won two straight games after its six-game losing streak.