Emmitsburg, Md. (January 24, 2009)--Mount St.
Mary's extended its win streak to six with a 70-52 victory over
Monmouth in Northeast Conference action at Knott Arena on Saturday
night. Sophomore Shawn Atupem (Newport News,
Va./Woodside) paced the Mountaineers (11-9, 6-3 NEC) with
16 points and seven rebounds in the win.
The Mount's six-game win streak matches
the second-longest since moving to NCAA Division I in 1988-89. The
Mount won 15 straight games in 1995-96 and had a pair of six-game
win streaks in last year's NCAA Tournament season.
The Mount opened the game with a 13-4 run
and never trailed in the contest. Shawn Atupem and Jean Cajou
(Fairfax, Va./Paul VI) each scored four points in the opening spurt
for the Mountaineers. Monmouth (6-15, 4-5 NEC) was able to get
back into the contest with a 13-to-2 run to cut the Mount's lead to
17-15 with 7:49 left in the first half after a Travis Taylor
lay-up.
The Mount responded answered Monmouth's
run with a 17-to-5 spurt to grabe a 34-20 advantage with nine
seconds left in the half. The Mount opened the streak with eight
straight points, including four from Shawn Atupem, to regain its
double-digit advantage. Cajou's three-pointer with nine seconds
left in the half pushed the Mount's advantage to 14. Monmouth
grabbed a bit of momentum when Will Campbell was fouled on a
last-second three-point attempt from halfcourt with 0.7 seconds
left in the half. Campbell made all three shots to make the score
34-23 at the break.
After a Taylor free throw opened the
scoring in the second half to make the score 34-24, the Mount
scored the next nine points for a 19-point cushion, 43-24, with
16:09 left in the game. Jeremy Goode (Charlotte, N.C./Providence
Day) scored the first four points of the run and Cajou capped the
streak with a fast-break dunk. The Hawks answered with
three-straight three-point baskets to cut the margin to 43-33 with
14:40 remaining, but the Mount again answered with nine straight
points to put the game away.
Shawn Atupem finished 7-for-10 from the
field for his game-high 16 points. The 6-7 forward has scored in
double figures in four straight games and eight of the Mount's past
12 contests. Cajou added 13 points and a career-high five steals
while Goode added 13 points in the victory. Kelly Beidler
(Virginia Beach, Va./Tallwood) stuffed the stat sheet with 10
points, nine rebounds, six assists, three blocks and two steals in
the Mount victory.
Campbell led Monmouth with 11 points off
the bench.
The Mount held the Hawks to 35.2 percent
shooting in the game while scoring 21 points off 19 Monmouth
turnovers. The Mount hit 47.4 percent from the floor while
committing just nine turnovers.
The Mount returns to action on Thursday,
January 29, with a 7:00 p.m. game at Quinnipiac.
Game Notes...The crowd
of 2,216 was a season-high for Mount St. Mary's...Redshirt freshman
Danny Thompson (Springdale, Md./C.H. Flowers) made
his Mount St. Mary's debut in the game after missing most of the
season with a stress fracture...Junior Will Holland
(Houston, Texas/Lamar) returned to action after missing
Thursday's win over Central Connecticut State with a bone bruise on
his right arm...Sophomore Pierre Brown (Williamsburg,
Va./Jamestown) had four points in the game, including an
alley-oop dunk on the fast break on a pass from Goode...Goode's 13
points give him 1,103 for his Mount career...The Mount won despite
hitting just 14-of-28 (.500) at the foul line.
