Emmitsburg, Md. (February 24, 2014)--Rashad Whack scored a team-high 21 points to lead Mount St. Mary's to an 88-73 win over Bryant on Monday night at Knott Arena.  The Mountaineers shot 54.5 percent from the floor in the victory.

Mount St. Mary's (12-15, 8-6 NEC) sprinted out to a 17-point first-half lead to take control of the game.  Leading 26-19 with 8:04 left in the first half, the Mount went on a n 8-0 run to grab a 34-19 lead.  Taylor Danaher scored the first four points of the streak, which was capped by four consecutive from freshman Khalid Nwandu.

Mount St. Mary's extended the advantage to 43-26 after another Danaher lay-up.  Bryant fought back, cutting the gap to 45-34 on a pair of Alex Francis free throws with six seconds left in the half, but the Mount's Julian Norfleet drained a three-pointer at the buzzer to give the Mountaineers a 48-34 advantage at the half.

The Mount made four three-pointers in the opening four minutes of the second half to take its biggest lead of the game, 64-40.  Whack hit a pair of threes in that stretch with Norfleet and Byron Ashe also adding long-range shots.

Bryant (17-12, 9-5 NEC) chipped away at the lead, cutting the Mount's advantage to 75-65 with 5:37 remaining, but Whack hit a jumper and Sam Prescott converted a three-point play to push the lead back to 15.  From there, the Mount cruised to the win.

Whack was 7-for-12 from the field while hitting 5-of-6 from three-point range for his game-high 21 points.  The senior is now 41 points shy of reaching 1,000 points for his career.

Norfleet added 16 points and five assists in just 23 minutes of action while Prescott chipped in 16 points, seven rebounds and three assists in the win.  Danaher scored 13 points for the Mount, and is now averaging 16.0 points in two games against Bryant this year.  Gregory Graves was the fifth Mount player in double figures with 10 points, and he just missed a double-double by collecting nine boards.

Francis led Bryant with 22 points and 10 rebounds with Joe O'Shea adding 18 points in the loss.

The Mount shot 54.5 percent overall and was 11-for-21 (.524) from three-point range in the game.  Bryant shot 46.8 percent overall, but was 5-for-18 from beyond the arc.  The Mount, the top free throw shooting team in the NEC, was 17-for-19 (.895) at the foul line.

Mount St. Mary's hosts Sacred Heart on Thursday, February 27, at 7:00 p.m. at Knott Arena.

Game Notes:  The Mount is now 9-3 all-time against Bryant...The Mount can clinch a home game in the Northeast Conference Tournament Quarterfinals with a win over Sacred Heart on Thursday...Julian Norfleet became the 16th player in Mount history to reach 1,500 career points with his 16 points tonight...He is now 14th all-time on the Mount scoring list with 1,514 career points...He is also the 64th player in NEC history to reach the 1,500-point plateau.