Fairfield, Conn. (January 31, 2015)—Byron Ashe matched his career high with 21 points while Gregory Graves posted his fourth double-double of the season to lead Mount St. Mary's to a 77-71 win at Sacred Heart on Saturday afternoon.

Ashe led all scorers in the game with 21 points while adding six rebounds and five steals for the Mountaineers.  Graves added 10 points and a career-high 13 rebounds for the Mount, which improved to 10-11 overall and 6-4 in the Northeast Conference.

The Mount used a 20-6 second-half run that included four consecutive three-pointers made to take control of the game.  Sacred Heart scored the first five points of the second half to cut the Mount lead to 41-38 before the Mount run.  An Ashe traditional three-point play started the run that included a pair of Will Miller three-pointers.

Chris Martin capped the run with a three-pointer to push the Mountaineers to a 61-44 advantage.  The Mount held a 65-48 lead with 9:58 before Sacred Heart (9-14, 3-7 NEC) rallied.

The Pioneers held the Mount to just two points over the next five and a half minutes to cut the deficit to 67-59 with 4:14 left.  Sacred Heart continued to cut away at the deficit, making it 71-66 with 1:13 left after a pair of Tevin Falzon free throws.

The Mount was able to hold off the rally by converting all six free throw attempts in the final minute to earn the win.

Khalid Nwandu and Miller each had nine points for the Mount win the win while Junior Robinson and Taylor Danaher eight each in the balanced scoring effort.

Falzon led Sacred Heart with 19 points and 10 rebounds with Evan Kelley chipping in 15 points and four steals.

The Mount shot 37.7 percent from the field in the game, but was 12-of-24 (.500) from three-point range.  Mount St. Mary's also hit 19-of-20 (.950) at the foul line, including making all 16 free throw attempts in the second half.

Sacred Heart shot 41.1 percent in the game, but hit 20-of-28 from the foul line in the second half to stay in the game.

The Mountaineers jumped to the early lead, taking an 8-2 advantage at the first media timeout behind three-pointers from Charles Glover and Ashe.

Back-to-back triples from Robinson gave the Mount a 20-14 lead before the Pioneers cut the deficit to 20-19 on a Steve Glowiak three-pointer with 8:49 left in the half.

The Mount responded with a 16-to-6 run to take a 36-25 advantage.  Graves hit a pair of three-pointers during the run for the Mountaineers.  A quick 6-0 Sacred Heart run cut the Mount lead to five, but the Mount took a 41-33 lead to the locker room.

Ashe led the Mount with 10 points in the first half while Robinson and Graves each had eight.  De'Von Barnett paced the Pioneers with 10 first-half points.  The Mountaineers shot 45.5 percent in the first half, including 8-of-14 (.571) from three-point range.  Sacred Heart shot 60.9 percent in the half, but committed 10 first-half turnovers.