FINAL BOX | HEAD COACH DAN ENGELSTAD QUOTES

Bloomington, Ind. (March 18, 2021)--In what was a tale of two halves, Mount St. Mary's came up on the short end in a 60-52 loss to Texas Southern in the NCAA First Four matchup at Simon Skjodt Assembly Hall.  Damian Chong Qui paced the Mountaineers with 14 points while Mezie Offurum had a double-double with 10 points and a career-best 16 rebounds.

The Mount (12-11) controlled play throughout the first half, holding Texas Southern to a season-low 20 points and 8-of-30 (.267) shooting from the field.  The Mountaineers used a 9-to-2 run to grab an eight-point lead with just over seven minutes left in the opening half.  Chong Qui started the run with a three-pointer and Deandre Thomas added a driving lay-up to put the Mount ahead, 15-9.  After a Texas Southern bucket, Offurum converted on a drive to the basket, and Thomas scored on a putback in transition to make it 19-11.

Offurum provided a highlight-reel dunk a few moments later to put the Mount on top, 21-15.  Nana Opoku started the play with a block, Josh Reaves chased down the ball and then fed Offurum, who finished with the dunk.  After a Texas Southern three-pointer, Reaves connected on a triple of his own, and Chong Qui fed Frantisek Barton for a dunk to make it 26-18.  Galen Alexander hit a pull-up with 2:39 left in the half to cut the Mount's advantage to 26-20, but Opoku countered with a tip-in with 1:22 on the clock for a 28-20 lead.  The Mount then closed the half in style, getting a stop on the defensive end with Chong Qui grabbing the board, racing down court, and hitting a tough floater to put the Mount up 10 at the break.

Texas Southern (17-8) opened the second half with 11 unanswered points to grab the lead.  John Walker III scored the first six points of the run that was capped by a Jordan Gilliam three-pointer.  The Mountaineers responded with an 8-0 run of its own to regain the lead.  Thomas hit a pair of free throws ahead of a Reaves three-pointer.  Offurum converted a bucket in the paint, and Opoku hit 1-of-2 at the line for a 38-31 Mount lead with 12:37 left. 

The Tigers responded to the Mount's surge with a 15-4 run of its own to take a 46-42 lead with just over eight minutes remaining.  Justin Hopkins scored five points in a row and Walker III drained a three-pointer for a 39-38 Texas Southern lead.  Opoku put the Mount back in front with a bucket in the lane, but Hopkins answered with a floater to put the Tigers in front, 41-40.  A Gilliam three-pointer capped the run for a four-point TSU lead.

Trailing 50-45, Chong Qui hit a three-pointer and then a floater with 3:11 left to make it 52-50.  Michael Weathers then missed the front end of a one-and-one, and the Mount had a chance for the lead, but a Reaves three-point attempt with 2:22 left was off the mark.  Texas Southern then got a dunk from Karl Nicholas on an offensive rebound to make it a four-point game with 2:06 left.  From there, the Tigers were able to keep the Mount at bay to earn the 60-52 victory.

Chong Qui finished with 14 points and three assists in the game.  Offurum had 10 points and a career-best 16 rebounds for his third career double-double.  The 16 boards are tied for the third-best mark all-time in an NCAA First Four game.  Opoku added nine points, six rebounds and three blocks while Thomas had nine points off the bench.  Walker III led all scorers with 19 points while just missing a double-double with nine rebounds.  Gilliam added 12 points in the win.

Overall, the Mount shot 19-of-49 (.388) from the field in the game, including just 6-of-19 (.316) in the second half.  Texas Southern shot 38.6 percent in the game, but was 14-of-27 (.519) from the floor in the second half.  The Tigers held a 38-to-37 advantage on the boards.  The Mount shot 8-of-16 (.500) from the foul line in the game while Texas Southern was 10-of-19 (.526) at the line.

The Mount is now 2-6 all-time in NCAA Tournament games and 2-2 in the NCAA Opening Round.  This was the Mount's first appearance in the NCAA Tournament since 2017, and the sixth overall.  The Mount had its four-game win streak snapped with the loss, while Texas Southern has now won 10 in a row, and 15 of its past 16 games.