Emmitsburg, Md. (November 15, 2022)--A strong defensive effort led Mount St. Mary's past McDaniel, 60-38, on Tuesday night in the home opener at Knott Arena.  Jalen Benjamin recorded 18 points, eight assists and seven rebounds to lead the way while Malik Jefferson added 13 points and eight boards in the victory.  The Mount improves to 1-2 on the season.

Mount St. Mary's quickly took control, scoring the game's first 13 points in the opening 3:10 of action.  Jefferson scored in the paint on the first possession of the game, and Deandre Thomas added a three-pointer on the next possession for a 5-0 lead.  Dakota Leffew added a triple, Jefferson another bucket in the paint, and Benjamin capped the early run with a three-pointer for the 13-0 advantage.  McDaniel scored the next seven points, and slowly whittled the Mount's lead to just four points at 25-21 with 3:13 left in the half.  The Mount led 31-25 at the break, hitting just 7-of-25 (.280) from the field after the 13-0 run.

The Mountaineers held the Green Terror (2-0) to six points over the first 14 minutes of the second half to take control of the game.  Leading 42-31 with just under 12 minutes left, the Mount went on a 12-0 run to take a commanding 54-31 lead.  Benjamin and Jefferson combined for 11 of the 12 points during the run that was capped by Jefferson's three-point play.  From there, the Mount was able to cruise to the win.

Mount St. Mary's held McDaniel to 13 points in the second half on 5-of-23 (.217) shooting from the field and 1-of-11 (.091) from three-point range.  For the game, McDaniel converted just 14-of-53 (.264) from the floor.  The Mountaineers shot 40.3 percent in the game, but struggled from three-point range, hitting just 6-of-27 (.222) from beyond the arc.

Benjamin was 8-of-14 from the field while flirting with a triple-double with his 18 points, eight assists and seven boards.  Jefferson connected on all six of his field goal attempts en route to his 13-point night while Leffew was also in double figures with 10 points.  George Tinsley had four points and eight rebounds (five on the offensive glass) with two steals and two blocks.

The Mountaineers head to California for their next three games beginning with a Friday night matchup at USC.  Tip-off for that game is set for 11:00 p.m. ET.

Game Notes:  The Mountaineers are now 78-18 all-time against McDaniel...This was the first meeting between the two teams since 1975...The Mount improves to 40-4 all-time at home against McDaniel...Head coach Dan Engelstad missed the game due to illness...Associate head coach Will Holland manned the sidelines for the Mount in the game...The game was a regular season contest for the Mount, but an exhibition game for McDaniel...Malik Jefferson's 13 points move him into 53rd on the Mount's all-time list with 955 in his career...He needs 45 points to become the 49th player in school history to reach 1,000 career points.