Athens, Ohio (November 22, 2021)—Mount St. Mary's battled host Ohio tough before the Bobcats pulled away in the latter parts of the second half for a 73-59 win on Monday night.  Jalen Benjamin led the Mountaineers with a season-high 23 points.
 
Slow starts have been an issue for the Mount this season, and tonight was no different as Ohio jumped out to a 7-0 lead before Deandre Thomas drained a three-pointer to put the Mount on the scoreboard.  Benjamin then drained his first shot of the game to make it a one-point game six minutes into the half.
 
Ohio responded as Mark Sears converted a traditional three-point play to put the Bobcats on top, 15-7, but the Mount (2-4) answered with a pair of Benjamin triples to cut the deficit back down to two.  Ohio again edged out to an eight-point lead, but Benjamin countered with back-to-back jumpers to make it 26-22 with 4:09 left in the half.  Ohio took another eight-point lead, but Thomas scored on a jumper and the Mount got a stop on the final possession to make it 32-26 at the break.
 
Benjamin was red-hot in the opening half, going 6-for-6 from the field and 4-of-4 from downtown for 16 points.  The Mountaineers shot 52.6 percent (10-of-19) in the opening half, but were plagued by 12 first-half miscues.  Ohio shot 50.0 percent (14-of-28) in the half.  Sears led the Bobcats with 11 points in the opening 20 minutes.
 
Ohio (4-1) opened the second half with a 13-to-6 run to take a 13-point lead at the first media timeout.  The Mountaineers battled back when Nana Opoku hammered home an alley-oop dunk on a feed from Benjamin and Benjamin then drained his fifth triple of the night to make it 52-45 with 12:16 remaining.  Ohio answered the Mount surge with seven unanswered points to regain a double-digit lead.  From there, the Bobcats were able to extend the lead to as much as 22 points before settling for the 14-point win.
 
Benjamin finished the game 9-of-10 from the field and 5-of-6 from three-point range for his season-high 23 points, his second 20-point effort this season.  Mezie Offurum added 12 points and a game-high eight rebounds for the Mount, and is now averaging 15.0 points over the Mount's past two games.  Opoku chipped in 10 points and a pair of blocks in the contest.  Sears led five Bobcats in double figures with 15 points while Ben Roderick and Jason Carter added 12 points each.
 
The Mount hit 23-of-43 (53.5 percent) from the field in the game while Ohio shot 29-of-62 (46.8 percent).  The Bobcats had 19 more field goal attempts in the game due to 20 Mount turnovers and 14 offensive rebounds.
 
The Mountaineers return home on Saturday, November 27, to face Navy at Knott Arena.  Tip-off is set for 2:00 p.m.