MOUNT ST. MARY'S (6-7, 5-4 NEC) vs. LIU (7-5, 7-5 NEC)
Thursday, February 11, 2021, 7 pm | Friday, February 12, 2021, 4 pm
Emmitsburg, Md. | Knott Arena

WATCH:  NEC Front Row | LIVE STATS | GAME NOTES

Mount St. Mary's returns to action this week by hosting a two-game series with Long Island at Knott Arena.  The two teams will square off on Thursday night at 7 pm before meeting again on Friday at 4 pm.

Mount Update:  Mount St. Mary's will be playing for the first time since January 31 after last week's two-game series at Bryant was postponed due to a positive test among Bryant's Tier I personnel.  The Mount split its Northeast Conference series with Sacred Heart at Knott Arena on January 30-31 and enters the series with Long Island 6-7 overall and 5-4 in the NEC.  Damian Chong Qui and Josh Reaves each scored 22 points as the Mount downed Sacred Heart, 76-64, on January 31 to earn the split against the Pioneers.  Despite Nana Opoku's 19-point, 10-rebound, 6-block effort on Saturday, the Mount lost to Sacred Heart, 61-58, in the opening game of the series.
 
Long Island Update:  LIU is coming off a 96-84 home win over St. Francis Brooklyn on Monday night.  Virshon Cotton (23), Eral Penn (22) and Ty Flowers (20) combined to score 65 points in the victory.          Penn leads LIU in both scoring (18.3) and rebounding (10.3) this season which includes a 33-point, 20-rebound effort in LIU's 78-70 loss to FDU.  Ty Flowers is averaging 17.9 points and 7.6 boards.  Three more Sharks are in double figures with Jermaine Jackson, Jr. (13.4), Alex Rivera (10.2) and Virshon Cotton (10.1).  LIU is averaging 76.5 points per game this season, scoring 75 or more points in a game six times this year.  The Sharks are sixth in the nation in tempo this year (74.7) and ninth in shortest possession length (14.7).
 
The All-Time Series:  Mount St. Mary's swept the season series last year to cut LIU's lead in the all-time series to 33-32.  The Mount captured an 82-73 win in double-overtime at Knott Arena before pulling out a 67-63 win in Brooklyn.  The Mount has won seven of the past eight matchups between the teams in Emmitsburg, and is 9-4 over the past 13 games against LIU.
 
Compact NEC Standings:  There is a logjam at the top of the Northeast Conference standings as one game separates the top seven teams.  Bryant, Merrimack and Fairleigh Dickinson are all tied for first with 6-4 (.600) records while LIU is next at 7-5 (.583).  With Merrimack ineligible for postseason play, the Mount currently holds fourth place (5-4, .556) by percentage points over Sacred Heart (6-5, .545).  Wagner is seventh with a 4-4 league record.  The top four teams in the regular season advance to the NEC Tournament this year.
 
Opoku Moving Up:  Nana Opoku registered nine blocks in the Mount's two games versus Sacred Heart to give him 129 for his career to move into fifth on the Mount's all-time list.  Opoku has registered three or more blocks in six of the Mount's nine NEC games this year.  He leads the circuit with 3.1 blocks per game in league play.
 
Jefferson Reaches 500 Career Rebounds:  Malik Jefferson posted his eighth career double-double with 14 points and 11 rebounds in the 65-64 loss at CCSU.  He is tied with Kelly Beidler and Gregory Graves for the seventh-most career double-doubles since the Mount moved to NCAA Division I in 1988-89.   Jefferson has reached double figures in rebounds in each of the past three games.  Jefferson is coming off his ninth career double-double (12 pts., 13 rebs. vs. Sacred Heart).  Jefferson eclipsed the 500-rebound mark for his career last week.  The 6-9 forward has 517 career boards, the ninth-most by a Mountaineer since the school moved to NCAA Division I in 1988-89.
 
Reaves Connecting from Three:  Josh Reaves, who went 5-for-7 from three-point range in the Mount's 76-64 win over Sacred Heart, is shooting 42.9 percent from beyond the arc this season.  The freshman guard has made two or more three-pointers in each of the past seven games, going 19-for-39 (.487) over that stretch.   Reaves scored a career-high 22 points in the win over Sacred Heart on Sunday, and he is now averaging 10.2 points in NEC play this year.
 
Up Next:  The Mount is set to close out the home portion of its schedule with a two-game series against Wagner on February 16-17.