Moon Township, Pa. (November 19, 2021)—Mount St. Mary's fought back from a 17-point second half deficit to rally for a 74-70 overtime win at former Northeast Conference rival Robert Morris on Friday night.  The Mount's Deandre Thomas drained a three-pointer with 1.2 seconds left in regulation to force the overtime.

"We had about an ugly a first half as you could have, but I am so proud of our group for the belief they have in our team to rally back.  To come back like that, you have to have belief and spirit.  There is a lot we have to clean up, but I love learning lessons in a big road win against a tough Robert Morris team," said Mount St. Mary's head coach Dan Engelstad.
Robert Morris scored the first four points of the second half to build its biggest lead of the game at 39-22.  Trailing 51-36 with 12:47 remaining, the Mount (2-3) rattled off 16 unanswered points to take the lead. 

Josh Reaves started the run with a three-pointer with Malik Jefferson and Jalen Benjamin converting back-to—back buckets.  After Mezie Offurum hit a pair of free throws, Benjamin nailed a pull-up jumper on the break to make it 51-47.  Offurum scored in the paint, and Jefferson converted a tough putback to tie the game, 51-51, with 8:20 left.  Offurum then hit 1-of-2 at the line to cap the run and give the Mount the lead.

It was back-and-forth for the next few minutes before an Offurum steal and dunk put the Mountaineers up, 56-55, with 4:21 on the clock.  After a Robert Morris tip-n, Jefferson scored in the paint on a feed from Benjamin for a 57-57 lead with 3:08 left.  Robert Morris answered, going ahead 61-58 after a Rasheem Dunn fast-break dunk on a Mount turnover.  Benjamin hit 1-of-2 at the line with 1:26 left to pull the Mount within a point, but Dunn hit 1-of-2 with 21 seconds left for a 62-60 RMU lead. Dunn then got a steal and was fouled on a drive to the basket with seven seconds on the clock.

Dunn hit the first free throw, but was off the mark on the second, setting up the Mount for the game-tying shot.  Offurum grabbed the rebound on the missed free throw and a long pass from near midcourt found a wide-open Thomas in the left corner.  Thomas drilled the shot with 1.3 seconds on the clock to even the score.  The Mount's Nana Opoku stole the inbounds at midcourt, but his desperation heave was off and the game went to the extra period.

Thomas said of his game-tying three-pointer, "It was like practicing with Coach Holland on a drift to the corner and being shot ready. I knew it was in as soon as it left my hand."

After a scoreless two minutes in overtime, Opoku hit a pair of free throws and a hook shot in the lane for a 67-63 Mount lead.  Benjamin hit a left-handed floater with 51 seconds left for a 69-64 advantage, and he hit two free throws with 21 seconds on the clock for a 71-65 lead.  Michael Green banked home a three-pointer with 16 seconds left to make it 71-68, but Offurum countered with two free throws for a five-point advantage.  The Mount fouled RMU's Dunn with 4.4 seconds left attempting a three-pointer, and he hit 2-for-3 to make it 73-70, but Thomas sealed the win with a free throw with 3.5 seconds on the clock.

Benjamin led the Mount with 19 ponits and four assists, hittin 9-of-10 at the foul line.  Offurum added 18 ponits and six rebounds while Nana Opoku had a double-double with 13 points, 12 rebounds with three blocks as well.  Jefferson just missed a double-double, posting nine points and a game-high 14 rebounds with Thomas scoring eight points in the win.
Dunn led Robert Morris with 18 points, but he had six turnovers in the contest.  Kahliel Spear added 14 points and 11 boards in the loss while Green III had 11 points on 4-fo-12 shooting.
The Mount shot 65.0 percent (13-of-20) from the field in the second half and finished shooting 39.7 percent overall.  Robert Morris shot 40.6 percent in the contest and was 13-of-24 (.542) at the foul line.

Robert Morris (0-4) took advantage of a cold Mount St. Mary's start, building a 12-2 lead in the opening eight minutes as the Mount missed 12 of its first 13 shots in the game.
Reaves ended the cold spell with a three-pointer, and the Mount was able to trim the deficit to 16-12 after a Nana Opoku bucket in the paint with 7:50 left in the half. 

Robert Morris responded to the Mount run, taking its biggest lead of the half, 30-15, with 2:41 on the clock.  The Mountaineers again cut into the deficit, scoring seven consecutive points to make it 30-22 with 47 seconds left in the half.  RMU again answered, this time scoring the final five points of the half, including a Jaron Williams three-pointer that made the score 35-22 at the break.

The Mount ended the first half shooting 8-of-33 (24.2 percent) from the floor, including 1-of-7 (14.3 percent) from beyond the arc.  Robert Morris shot 14-of-31 (45.2 percent) in the opening half and were 3-for-6 (50.0 percent) from beyond the arc.

Benjamin led the Mount with seven points in the half, but was 2-of-9 from the field.  Offurum added six points while Jefferson collected seven first half caroms.  Dunn and Spear each scored nine points in the half for RMU.

The Mountaineers conclude their four-game road swing at Ohio on Monday, November 22.  Tip-off is set for 7:00 p.m.

NOTES:  The Mount and Robert Morris had a heated rivalry until the Colonials left the NEC for the Horizon League after the 2019-20 season…The teams met in the NEC Tournament five consecutive seasons from 2006-10 and in nine of the final 15 seasons RMU was in the NEC… The teams met twice in the NEC championship game with the Mount winning in 2014 (88-71) and falling on a late basket in 2009 (48-46)…The all-time series is now tied at 36 wins each.