Emmitsburg, Md. (February 15, 2020)--Mount St. Mary's built a 15-point second half lead, but saw Saint Francis U rally for a 70-55 victory before a crowd of 2,724 at Knott Arena on Saturday afternoon.  Jalen Gibbs paced the Mountaineers with 24 points and seven rebounds in the game.

Leading 29-20 at the half, Mount St. Mary's (10-16, 6-7 NEC) scored the first six points of the second half to build a 15-point advantage with 18:09 left in the second half.  Gibbs hit a three-pointer, Malik Jefferson scored in the paint, and Vado Morse hit 1-of-2 at the line to give the Mount its biggest lead of the game.  Saint Francis answered with an 8-to-2 run to get the deficit to single digits, but Gibbs was fouled on a three-point attempt, and he hit all three shots to put the Mount back on top by 12.  A Nana Opoku bucket in the paint with 14:17 left in the half had the Mountaineers leading, 42-30.  Red Flash forward Mark Flagg then scored seven points during a 14-to-2 run that evened the score at 44-44 midway through the second half.

The teams traded baskets for the next few minutes with the Mount holding a 50-49 advantage when Gibbs hit 1-of-2 at the line with 6:34 on the clock.  The Red Flash (17-8, 10-4 NEC) took their first lead of the game on the next possession, a Deivydas Kuvasas lay-up on a Braxton pass with 6:23 remaining.  Isaiah Blackmon's three-pointer made it a four-point game, but Gibbs hit a baseline jump with 4:33 left to make it 54-52.  Tyler Stewart responded with a three from the left corner before Damian Chong Qui hit 1-of-2 at the line for the Mount to make it a 57-53 game with 3:58 left.  Gibbs hit hit a pair of free throws to make it 61-55 with 2:17 left, but the Red Flash scored the final nine points to seal the win.

Gibbs hit 5-of-10 from the floor, 3-of-7 from three-point range, and 11-of-14 at the line for his game-high 24 points.  Opoku added 13 points, eight rebounds and four assists while Morse chipped in nine points, five assists and four boards in the loss.  Blackmon led Saint Francis U with 21 points while Flagg added 16 points and eight rebounds in the win.  Braxton had a strong all-around game with 10 points, 13 rebounds and seven assists for Saint Francis.

The Mount scored the first seven points of the game to take the early lead.  Morse hit a three-pointer, Jefferson scored in the paint, and Chong Qui on a runner to stake the Mount to the 7-0 advantage.  After the Red Flash cut the deficit to two, the Mount built a nine-point advantage, 23-14, after a pair of Gibbs free throws with 2:48 left in the opening half.  A Gibbs three-pointer with 33 seconds left in the half made it 29-20.

Mount St. Mary's shot 34.6 percent in the game, including 6-of-18 (.333) from three-point range.  The Red Flash scored 50 points in the second half to rally for the win.  Saint Francis shot 43.6 percent overall and was 8-for-20 (.400) from three in the victory.

Mount St. Mary's is back in action on Tuesday, February 18, with a 7:00 p.m. matchup at Wagner.