Box Score Poughkeepsie, N.Y. (January 8, 2023)--Mount St. Mary's dropped the final game of its four-game road swing, 63-56, at Marist on Sunday afternoon.  Dakota Leffew scored a team-high 17 points to pace the Mountaineers in the game while Jalen Benjamin added 15.  Marist outscored the Mountaineers by 12 in the second half to rally for the win.

Mount St. Mary's (6-10, 2-3 MAAC) jumped out to an early 8-2 advantage behind a Benjamin three-pointer and five consecutive Leffew points on a jumper and a three-pointer.  The Red Foxes rebounded from the slow start to grab a 13-10 advantage midway through the opening half.  Marist was able to stretch its advantage to 22-15 on a Stephane Ingo putback basket with just over five minutes left in the opening half.  The Mountaineers responded with a 13-to-1 run to close out the half for a 28-23 lead.  The Mountaineers scored eight unanswered points to grab a 23-22 lead when Leffew scored in the paint.  After Marist's Javon Cooley hit 1-of-2 at the line to even the score with 50 seconds on the clock, George Tinsley connected on a three, and then came up with a steal that led to a Leffew bucket to close the half for a 28-23 Mountaineer advantage.

The second half saw the Mount maintain its lead for the early portions, grabbing a 40-38 advantage after a Frantisek Barton basket with 13:05 left in the game. Marist took the lead on a Kam Farris three-pointer and led 45-44 after the Mount's Deandre Thomas scored with just over eight minutes left.  The Red Foxes (5-9, 1-4 MAAC) then used a 7-0 run to take control of the game, eventually taking a 12-point lead, 60-48, with 2:21 left after a Patrick Gardner basket.  Benjamin sandwiched a pair of threes around a Tyler Saint-Furcy basket to cut the deficit to 62-54, and Benjamin made it a six-point game with a bucket with 27 seconds on the clock.  Farris hit 1-of-2 at the line to close out the scoring in the game for a seven-point Marist win.

Leffew finished the game with 17 points and a season-high seven rebounds, connecting on 8-of-17 from the field in the game.  Benjamin was 3-of-6 from three-point range en route to his 15 points while Tinsley added seven points and six rebounds in the loss.  Gardner led all scorers with 23 points while adding six rebounds to lead the Red Foxes.  Farris chipped in 12 points off the bench as well.

Mount St. Mary's shot 22-of-51 (.431) overall and were held to 5-of-22 (.227) from three-point range in the game.  Marist shot 60.0 percent (15-of-25) in the second half, including 5-of-10 (.500) from beyond the arc, to complete its strong second stanza.  Marist finished the game 24-of-54 (.444) overall from the field and 7-of-26 (.269) from three. 

The Mount will play five of its next six games at home beginning with a 7:00 p.m. matchup with Manhattan on Friday, January 13, at Knott Arena.