Emmitsburg, Md. (December 17, 2019)--Mount St. Mary's cut an 18-point second-half deficit to one, but could not complete the comeback in an 82-76 loss to American on Tuesday night at Knott Arena.  Omar Habwe paced four Mountaineers in double figures with 17 points while Jalen Gibbs added 14 in the game. 

Trailing 51-33 in the second half, the Mount rattled off 12 unanswered points to get back into the game.  Habwe started the run when he connected on a three-pointer, the Mount's first of the game, with 13:57 left in the second half.  Habwe was fouled on a three-point attempt, and drained all three free throws, and then added another triple for a personal 9-0 run to make it 51-42 with 11:42 on the clock.  Gibbs followed with a three-pointer from the left corner to cap the run to make it a six-point game.

The Eagles (4-5) responded to push the lead back to eight, 59-51, with 8:43 left on a Sa'eed Nelson bucket in the paint.  Nana Opoku and Damian Chong Qui scored back-to-back buckets in the paint, and after a pair of Nelson free throws, Malik Jefferson scored on a feed from Vado Morse to make it 61-57.  After a defensive stop, Gibbs cut the American advantage to 61-60 with a traditional three-point play with 6:33 left in the game.

Trailing by six with 3:25 on the clock, it looked like the Mount's Malik Jefferson drew a foul in the paint on American center Mark Gasperini, which would have been his fifth and disqualifying foul.  However, after video review, Jefferson was called for a hook and hold, which is a flagrant foul.  Gasperini connected on both free throws, and American's Jamir Harris followed with a three-pointer to make it 73-62.  The Mount (3-8) kept fighting with Habwe nailing a three-pointer and Jefferson converting a putback to make it 73-67 with 1:32 left.  A Habwe free throw with 44 seconds on the clock made it 75-70, but American was able to hold on for the win from there.

Habwe finished 5-of-9 from the field and 3-of-6 from three-point range en route to his 17-point effort.  Gibbs chipped in 14 points and a team-high six rebonds while Opoku (11) and Jefferson (10) also scored in double figures.  Chong Qui and Morse added nine points each in the balanced offensive attack for the Mountaineers.  Nelson led American with 19 points, nine assists, seven rebounds and four steals while Harris added 17 points and five rebounds.  Jacob Boonyasith added 16 while Ben Lubarsky had 10 off the bench in the win for American.

American shot 46.2 percent overall in the game, including a 10-of-22 (.455) effort from three-point range.  The Mount shot 44.6 percent overall, including 53.2 percent in a 51-point second half.  The Mount was 5-for-20 (.250) from three-point range in the game.

The Eagles used a 16-0 first-half run to take a 22-6 lead in the opening half.  The Eagles hit 6-of-8 from three-point range to open the game, and stretched the advantage to 20 points (29-9) on a Marvin Bragg four-point play.  The Mount was able to get back into the game by scoring the next 12 points, capping the run with a pair of Morse free throws with 5:00 left in the half.  The Mountaineers were able to trim the deficit to 31-25 before American scored the final four points of the half to make it 35-25 at the break.

The Mount returns to action at Navy on Friday, December 20, with a 1:00 p.m. game.