Emmitsburg, Md. (February 3, 2022)--Behind Dakota Leffew's team-high 15 points, Mount St. Mary's extended its win streak to six with a 69-53 victory over Merrimack on Thursday night at Knott Arena.  Malik Jefferson added a double-double in his first game back after missing the previous three games while the Mount held the opposition under 60 points for the sixth consecutive game as well.

Leffew hit 6-of-9 from the field and all three of his three-point attempts to match his career high with 15 points in the win.  The sophomore added six rebounds in the game while leading the team in scoring for the second time this season.  Jefferson, who missed the past three games due to injury, came back with 12 points and 12 rebounds for his 14th career double-double.  Jefferson is now one double-double away from matching Michael Watson for the most career double-doubles (15) since the Mount moved to NCAA Division I in 1988-89.  Nana Opoku added 12 points and nine rebounds for the Mount as well, connecting on 6-of-10 from the floor in the game.

The Mountaineers (11-10, 7-4 NEC) have held all six opponents under 60 points during the six-game win streak.  The last time the Mount has held six opponents in a row under 60 was in December of 2007.  The six-game win streak is also the longest by a Mountaineer team since the 2016-17 team won eight in a row. 

Bryant (8-14, 4-6 NEC) came out strong in taking a 21-14 with just under six minutes remaining in the opening half.  The Mount defense turned it up a notch, holding the Warriors to three points the rest of the half in a 15-3 run that gave the Mount a 29-24 lead at the half.  Jefferson started the run with five consecutive points, and a Jalen Benjamin hook shot evened teh score at 21-21 with 3:06 left in the half.  Nana Opoku converted a bucket in the paint to make it a 10-0 run before Malik Edmead's bucket halted the run in tying the score at 23-23.  Opoku hit a floater to put the Mount back on top and a pair of Leffew baskets made it 29-23 with 39 seconds left in the half.  Merrimack's Ziggy Reid hit 1-of-2 at the line with 5.9 seconds on the clock to make it 29-24 at the break.

Jefferson converted another hook shot to give the Mount its first double-digit advantage at 38-28 and Leffew added a three-pointer to make it a 13-point advantage.  Merrimack closed within eight on three occasions and made it a nine-point deficit, 62-53, on a Mikey Watkins basket with 3:01 left in the game.  The Mount held Merrimack scoreless the rest of the way while scoring the final seven points to earn the 16-point win.  Mount St. Mary's has won four NEC home games in a row, all by margins of 15 points or better. 

Reid was the lone Merrimack player in double figures with 16 points while Jordan Minor had six points and a game-high 14 rebound in the loss.

Mount St. Mary's shot 57.1 percent (16-of-28) from the field in the second half, including a sizzling 5-of-6 (.833) from three-point range.  Overall, the Mount shot 50.0 percent (29-of-58) in the victory while holding a 38-to-28 advantage on the boards.  The Mount held Merrimack to 35.8 percent shooting (19-of-53) and 6-of-21 (.286) from three-point range.

Mount St. Mary's looks to extend the win streak to seven on Saturday, February 5, when Bryant visits Knott Arena for a 4:00 p.m. tip-off.  The Mount defeated Bryant, 73-68, in the Northeast Conference Championship game last year, but the Bulldogs are the last team to defeat the Mount this season, a 73-66 win in Smithfield, R.I., on January 15.