Emmitsburg, Md. (December 1, 2011)--Mount St. Mary's dropped its Northeast Conference opener to St. Francis (N.Y.), 64-54, on Thursday night at Knott Arena.  Freshman Kelvin Parker paced the Mount with 16 points in the loss.

The Mount (1-5, 0-1 NEC) used a 7-0 run early in the first half to take an 11-9 advantage, helped from four points from Julian Norfleet.  The Terriers (2-4, 1-0 NEC), however, answered with an 11-to-2 spurt to grab a seven-point advantage.

St. Francis was able to hold the lead throughout the half behind a strong performance from three-point range.  The Terriers hit 6-of-15 (.400) from beyond the arc in the opening half to grab a 28-19 lead.

Parker hit a pair of three-pointers to cut the gap to 30-25 early in the second half, but St. Francis answered with a 12-to-4 advantage to take a 42-29 lead.

The Mount again fought back, cutting the margin to 42-35 after a Lamar Trice jumper, but St. Francis sealed the win by scoring the next 10 points.

Parker, who is averaging 13.7 points over the past three games, was 7-for-11 from the field while adding six rebounds to his team-high 16 points.  Raven Barber and Norfleet chipped in with 11 points while Trice added 10 points off the bench.

Ben Mockford hit 5-of-13 from beyond the arc to record a game-high 19 points for St. Francis (N.Y.) in the win.  Stefan Perunicic added 14 points with Jalen Cannon tallying 10 points and nine boards off the bench for the Terriers.

The Mount shot 41.8 percent in the game while holding St. Francis (N.Y.) to 38.9 percent, however, the Terriers shot 10-for-28 from three-point range to earn the win.

Mount St. Mary's has a quick turnaround as defending NEC champion Long Island visits Knott Arena on Saturday night at 7:00 p.m.