Smithfield, R.I. (January 15, 2022)—A strong second half rally was not enough as Mount St. Mary's fell at Bryant, 73-66, in a rematch of last year's Northeast Conference championship game.  Trailing by 14 in the second half, the Mount rallied to cut the deficit to three late in the game, but the Bulldogs were able to hold off the comeback bid for the win.

This was the first meeting between the two teams since Mount St. Mary's topped Bryant, 73-68, on the road last March to secure the Mount's sixth NCAA Tournament bid.

Trailing by nine at the break, the Mount whittled the deficit to 41-36 on a Deandre Thomas jumper four minutes in the second half.  Bryant (7-8, 4-1 NEC) answered with a 9-0 run to take its biggest lead of the game at 50-36.  The Bulldogs were able to maintain the lead and a Peter Kiss traditional three-point play made it 59-46 with just over 10 minutes remaining in the contest.

The Mount's comeback bid started there as Mezie Offurum connected for back-to-back buckets and Jalen Benjamin hit 1-of-2 at the line to make it 59-51.  Benjamin drained a three-pointer with just under four minutes on the clock to slice Bryant's advantage to 62-56, and after a stop on the defensive end, Josh Reaves was fouled on a three-point attempt and he calmly sank all three shots to make it a one -ossession game.

Kiss hit a tough left-handed shot with 2:51 left to push the margin back to five and the Mount countered with Nana Opoku going 1-for-2 at the line to make it 64-60 with 2:17 on the clock.  Eleeda then drained a clutch three-pointer to push his team back on top by seven, but the Mount answered with an Opoku bucket.

The Mount got a stop on the defensive end, and an Offurum jumper with 1:11 left made it a one-possession game again, 67-64.  Bryant's Pride provided the game's biggest shot on the ensuing possession, a three-pointer that put the lead back to 70-64 with 51 seconds left.   Benjamin scored in the paint to make it a four-point game, but Pride hit a pair of free throws for a 72-66 lead with 31 seconds on the clock.  The Mount was unable to score, and Luis Hurtado went 1-of-2 at the line to close out the scoring.

Opoku led the Mount with 15 points and 10 rebounds for his second double-double of the season and eighth of his career.  Opoku added a three blocks as well for the Mount.  Benjamin tied for the team lead with 15 points while adding three assists and a pair of steals.  Dakota Leffew chipped in 12 points off the bench, hitting 5-of-9 from the field in the game while Reaves finished with 10 points.  Offurum finished the game with eight points and three blocks.

Eleeda proved to be the difference maker in the game, hitting 8-of-13 from three-point range en route to a game-high 26 points.  Kiss had 18 points and five assists with Pride finishing with 13 in the victory.
Bryant shot 46.4 percent in the game, including 12-of-24 (.500) from three-point range.  The Mount shot 45.8 percent overall and was 5-of-14 (.357) from beyond the arc. 

After falling behind, 6-0, in the opening minute of the game, the Mount fought back to grab a 17-16 lead on a Reaves three-pointer near the midpoint of the first half.  The Bulldogs answered with a 7-0 run that was capped by a Pride three-pointer.  Offurum slammed home a dunk with just over two minutes left in the first half to cut Bryant's lead to 31-28, but Eleeda connected on a pair of three-pointers to give Bryant a 37-28 lead at the break.

The Mount returns to action on Monday, January 17, with a 3:00 p.m. matchup at Merrimack to close out the team's four-game road trip.