Emmitsburg, Md. (January 8, 2009)--Mount St. Mary's used a balanced offensive attack to defeat Fairleigh Dickinson, 81-62, for its first Northeast Conference win of the season. Seven players scored eight or more points for the Mount (6-9, 1-3 NEC) in the victory.

A 19-to-8 run to close the first half gave the Mount the lead for good. Trailing 26-25 with 5:27 left in the half, Jean Cajou buried a jumper to start the run. After an FDU turnover, the Mount's Will Holland converted a three-pointer and a traditional three-point play on consecutive plays to pus the margin to 33-26. Pierre Brown's traditional three-point play extended the Mount's lead to 10 and Jeremy Goode grabbed his own rebound and hit a jump shot at the halftime buzzer for a 44-34 Mount advantage.

In the second half, an 11-2 spurt gave the Mount a 57-40 lead with 14:37 left in the game. From there, the Mountaineers were able to cruise to the victory.

"We played with a lot of energy and focus tonight," said Mount St. Mary's head coach Milan Brown. "We took a day off from practice after the Robert Morris game (on Monday) and had a long team meeting Tuesday. What came out of the meeting was that everyone really wants to win. We have to take our game to another level if we want to accomplish our goals this season."

Shawn Atupem and Cajou each scored a game-high 15 points to pace the Mount while Brown scored a career-high 10 points off the bench for the Mount. Sam Atupem chipped in 10 points, Goode nine, and Kelly Beidler and Holland eight each in the victory.

Fairleigh Dickinson (2-12, 2-3 NEC) had five players in double figures led by Cameron Tyler's 13. Alvin Mofunanya, Sean Baptiste and Terence Grier each had 12 points and Kamil Svrdlik 11 in the loss.

The Mount shot 50.7 percent from the floor in the game and held a 42-to-31 advantage on the boards. FDU shot 43.4 percent in the game, including 32.1 percent from the field in the second half.

The Mount returns to action on Saturday with a 4:30 p.m. game at St. Francis (N.Y.).