BROOKLYN, N.Y. (Feb. 6, 2020) - Mount St. Mary's men's basketball found themselves on the wrong end of a double-digit deficit, but rallied before the half was over, then held off the Long Island Sharks on defense in a 67-63 victory Thursday at the Steinberg Wellness Center. The Mount (10-13, 6-4 NEC) stormed past last year's win total with the triumph and matched their total in the Northeast Conference (NEC). The win also means a season sweep of the Sharks, who were preseason favorites in the NEC. 

Four Mountaineers earned double figures, with Nana Opoku and Jalen Gibbs registering 15 points each. Damian Chong Qui finished with 13 and one assist shy of a double-double with a new career high of nine. Malik Jefferson also crossed the threshold with 11 points. 

Brandon Leftwich cleaned up the missed Sharks shots, leading to a career-high nine rebounds. As a unit, the Mount tallied 38 rebounds to Long Island's 31. The team also earned a higher field goal percentage - 44 to 40.7 - and won the assist battle, 12-11, and the steal battle, 8-5. 

Long Island (10-13, 5-5 NEC) was led by Raiquan Clark, who completed a game-best 20 points. Tyrn Flowers matched Leftwich's total of nine boards while adding 15 points. 

Early on, the game was all Sharks. Long Island blitzed out of the gate with a hot scoring run, and at times were running a percentage north of 80 percent. Just six minutes and change in, LIU had built up a 21-9 lead. The squads would trade baskets over the next three minutes as the Sharks maintained a 25-13 advantage. 

From here the Mount clamped down on defense and made their move on offense. The visiting side went on a 13-0 run, capped off by a triple from Naim Miller with 6:53 left in the first half. Long Island did respond with a trey of their own to eliminate their nearly six minute drought, and the two sides battled each other to a 31-31 deadlock inside of three minutes. Mount entered the break with a five point lead, using a three pointer from Jalen Jefferson and two points from Opoku and Chong Qui to hold the edge. 

The second half rapidly became a grudge match, with LIU staying within one or two possessions for most of the contest. The Mountaineers earned their largest lead of the night at 49-40 on an Opoku trey, but LIU roared back to remain with sight of the lead. 

Shooting began to stall for both sides. Opoku's three would be the lone triple for the Mount in the half, and even two pointers were hard to come by. Using foul shots and staunch defense, the Mountaineers were able to hold the Sharks at bay. An and-one play by Malik Jefferson pushed the lead up to seven with 7:13 remaining. 

The lead teetered around that margin until the final minute. With Mount up six at 63-57, LIU's Jermaine Jackson, Jr. hit a three to pull the game within one possession. Two foul shots by Gibbs fell short, but Clark's potential game-tying shot turned out to be an airball. Chong Qui was given the responsibility to sink the free throws on the next two trips, and he made all four of them. Jackson, Jr. did bank in a triple with 14 seconds left to give the Mount a scare, but Chong Qui's second set of foul shots iced the game. 

The Mountaineers stay in New York to take on St. Francis Brooklyn this Saturday (Feb. 8). A 4 p.m. tip-off is on tap at the Pope Physical Education Complex.