San Luis Obispo, Calif. (November 20, 2022)—Four players scored in double figures in a balanced effort to lead Mount St. Mary's to a 73-68 road win at Cal Poly in the California Thanksgiving Jam on Sunday night.  Jalen Benjamin scored 18 points to lead the Mount (2-3) while Dakota Leffew (16), Malik Jefferson (14) and George Tinsley (11) also reached double figures in the win.

Mount St. Mary's used a 14-to-1 second-half run to take control of the game.  Leading 35-33, the Mount's run pushed the advantage to 49-34 at the midpoint of the second stanza.  Tinsley started the surge with a traditional three-point play ahead of a pair of Benjamin free throws.  After Cal Poly's Alimamy Koroma hit 1-of-2 at the line, Benjamin connected on a three-pointer from the top of the key and Jaylin Gibson scored on a strong drive to the basket to give the Mount a double-digit advantage at 45-34.  Benjamin scored on a drive and Jefferson's bucket in the paint capped the decisive run. 

The Mustangs made things interesting with an 11-0 run that cut the Mount's advantage to 51-47 with just under six minutes left.  The run was capped by a Trevon Taylor three-point play and a Camren Pierce bucket off a turnover that made it a four-point game with 5:50 on the clock.

The Mountaineer defense took over from there, holding Cal Poly without a field goal over the next four minutes while rebuilding a double-digit lead.  Benjamin connected on a key three-pointer from the right corner off an out-of-bounds play for a 61-51 lead and Jefferson followed with a putback bucket to stretch the advantage to 12 with just under two minutes left.  From there, the Mount was able to close out the victory.

Benjamin scored 15 of his team-high 18 points in the second half to pace the Mountaineers.  The senior guard added six assists and four rebounds while hitting 7-of-8 from the foul line.  Leffew finished with 16 points, four assists and four rebounds while Jefferson hit 7-of-9 from the field for his 14 points while also collecting eight boards.  Tinsley chipped in 11 points and four rebounds for the Mount as well.

Chance Hunter tied Benjamin for game scoring honors with 18 points to pace Cal Poly while Taylor contributed a double-double of 17 points and 10 rebounds.

Mount St. Mary's was 23-of-50 (.460) from the field, 8-of-22 (.364) from three-point range and 19-of-22 (.864) from the foul line in the game.  The Mount had a 38-to-27 edge on the boards while holding Cal Poly to 22-of-51 (.431) shooting in the game.
In a back-and-forth first half that featured seven lead changes and three ties, the Mount was able to make a late push for a 30-26 lead at the half.

The Mount made the first big run of the game, a 9-to-2 spurt for that ended with a 30-24 lead late in the first half.  Benjamin started the run when Benjamin got a friendly roll on a three-point attempt, and Gibson followed with a three from the left wing to make it 27-22.  After a Cal Poly basket, Jefferson scored and Leffew added a free throw after a flop call to put the Mount up by six.  The Mustangs scored the final basket of the half on a Taylor drive that made trimmed the Mount's lead to 30-26 at the half.

George Tinsley started the game quick by scoring the Mount's first five points, and a Leffew triple gave the Mount an early 8-7 advantage.  After Cal Poly regained the lead, Leffew connected on another three-pointer to give the Mount the lead and Jefferson added a basket for a four-point lead.  The Mustangs responded and regained the lead at 22-21 after a Camren Pierce drive ahead of the Mount's late run.

The Mount connected on 12-of-28 (.429) from the field in the opening half, including a 5-for-15 (.333) performance from three-point range.  Cal Poly shot 11-of-25 (.444) overall and 4-of-11 (.364) from three in the half.  Turnovers were a problem for each team in the opening half as each squad committed eight miscues.  Leffew led all scorers in the half with nine points while Jefferson chipped in six points and three rebounds for the Mount. 

Mount St. Mary's concludes its three-game road at Pacific on Tuesday night in another California Thanksgiving Jam matchup.  Tip-off is set for 10:00 p.m. ET.

Game Notes:  This was the first-ever meeting between the two teams…Jefferson has made 24 of his past 26 field goal attempts this season…With his 14-point effort, Jefferson moves within 15 points of the 1,000-point mark for his career at the Mount…The graduate student has 985 career points, tied with Charles Cook for 50^th all-time in school history…Jefferson needs two more rebounds to reach 800 for his career as well…Benjamin and Leffew have each scored in double figures in each of the Mount's first five games this year.