Philadelphia, Pa. (November 13, 2021)--A sluggish first half proved to be the difference as the Mount St. Mary's men's basketball team lost at Saint Joseph's, 80-60, on Saturday afternoon.  Sophomore Dakota Leffew paced the Mount with a career-high 15 points while Malik Jefferson chipped in 12 points and six boards in the loss.

The Mount struggled to get in sync in the first half, falling behind 18-to-4 while making just one of their first 16 shots taken in the game.  Mount St. Mary's (1-2) was able to overcome the early struggles by hitting all six of its free throws in the opening 10 minutes while back-to-back buckets from Jefferson and Jalen Benjamin cut the deficit to 20-12.  A Mezie Offurum dunk pulled the Mount within 22-14 with just under eight minutes left in the half, but a 5-0 Saint Jospeh's run pushed the lead back to double figures.  Deandre Thomas drained a three-pointer to cut the deficit back to 10, but the Hawks outscored the Mount, 12-5, the rest of the half to take a 17-point lead at the half.  The Mount converted just 24.1 percent (7-of-29) from the field in the first half while Saint Joseph's shot 55.6 percent overall while making 4-of-7 from three-point range.

In the second half, Leffew made a floating jumper with 14:29 remaining in the game to cut the deficit to 44-30, but the Hawks countered with a 16-to-4 run that sealed the victory.  Leffew went 4-for-9 from the field and 7-for-9 at the charity stripe for his career-best 15-point effort.  He also added three steals and three rebounds in 28 minutes of action.  Jefferson tallied double figures in scoring for the third consecutive game, going 5-for-11 from the field for 12 points while grabbing six boards.  Josh Reaves also scored in double figures for the Mount with 10 points while hitting 2-of-4 from three-point range.  Offurum had six points and a team-best seven rebounds for the Mountaineers.

Taylor Funk led four Hawks in double figures with 18 points while Ejike Obinna controlled the inside with 16 points and 15 rebounds.  Saint Joseph's shot 51.7 percent (30-of-59) from the field in the game, including 10-of-18 (.556) from three-point range. The Mount shot 19-of-58 (.328) in the game and was 3-forf-11 from beyond the arc.

Up next for the Mount is a matchup with No. 10 Kentucky at Rupp Arena on Tuesday, November 16, at 7:00 p.m.