Box Score Brooklyn Heights, N.Y. (January 7, 2021)—Mount St. Mary's led by eight at the half, but saw St. Francis Brooklyn rally for a 70-55 victory on Thursday afternoon at the Pope Physical Education Center.  Damian Chong Qui paced the Mount with 17 points while Malik Jefferson added his seventh career double-double with 11 points and 14 rebounds in the game.   

It was the Mount's first game since a 75-57 win over Saint Francis U on Dec. 8 at Knott Arena.  Since then, the Mount has had to pause basketball activities twice due to positive COVID-19 tests among men's basketball's Tier 1 personnel.  The 30-day break between games is the longest by a Mount team since a 31-day break during the 1971-72 season. 
 
The Mount (2-4, 1-1 NEC) led 39-31 at the half, but St. Francis Brooklyn scored the first nine points of the second stanza to quickly regain the lead.  Frantisek Barton scored on a feed from Chong Qui to give the Mount the lead back, and a Chong Qui three-pointer made it 44-41 with 13:15 remaining.  The Terriers answered with a Yaradyah Evan three-pointer and a Rob Higgins basket to take a 46-44 advantage.  Chong Qui was able to pull the Mount within two, 49-47, midway through the second half, but the Terriers pulled away with a 13-to-4 run for a 62-51 advantage.
 
St. Francis Brooklyn (3-3, 3-2 NEC) outscored the Mount, 39-16, in the second half with the Mount shooting just 5-of-21 (.238) from the field and 1-of-8 (.125) from three-point range in the half.  The Terriers shot 51.9 percent (14-of-27) in the second half.  Turnovers were a key to the game as the Mount committed 18 miscues while St. Francis Brooklyn had just six.
 
Chong Qui led the Mount with 17 points, four rebounds and four assists while Jefferson added 11 points and 14 boards for the double-double.  Mezie Offurum chipped in 11 points and four rebounds in the game while Nana Opoku had six points and nine rebounds.
 
Chauncey Hawkins led all scorers with 23 points for St. Francis Brooklyn with Unique McLean adding 13 and Higgins 11.
 
The Mountaineers started the game quickly, scoring the first eight points.  Opoku opened the scoring with a dunk on a nice back-door cut.  Jefferson scored in the paint, Offurum a dunk on a cut to the basket and then a lay-up to make it 8-0.

The Terriers fought back to tie the score at 17-17 on a Larry Moreno three-pointer midway through the half.  A Higgins lay-up after a Mount turnover gave the Terriers a 27-26 lead, but the Mount was able to close the half strong to take a 39-31 lead at the break.

Reaves nailed a three-pointer to ignite the 13-to-4 run to close the half for the Mount.  Chong Qui connected on back-to-back baskets and he then fed Jefferson for a bucket to make it 35-27.  The Terriers converted four free throws around a Reaves charity toss to cut the Mount lead to 36-31, but Chong Qui drained a long three-pointer to close the half for the eight-point halftime advantage.

The Mount shot 14-of-30 (.467) from the field in the first half while connecting on 3-of-10 (.300) from beyond the arc.  Chong Qui paced the Mount with 10 first-half points with Jefferson adding nine points and nine rebounds.  Offurum chipped in eight points and four boards for the Mount in the half.  Hawkins paced the Terriers with 14 points and four assists in the half.

The teams will have a quick turnaround with a 4:00 p.m. matchup tomorrow at the Daniel Lynch '38 Gymnasium at the Pope Physical Education Center.