Washington, D.C. (November 22, 2023)—Mount St. Mary's dropped a hard-fought matchup at American, 68-65, on Wednesday at Bender Arena.
Dakota Leffew paced the Mount with 20 points while freshman
De'Shayne Montgomery posted his first career double-double with 14 points and 10 rebounds in the game.
American (3-3) used a 16-to-1 second half run to turn an eight-point Mount advantage to a seven-point deficit, 55-48, midway through the second half. Three-point shooting keyed the American surge as the Eagles hit four during the run, including back-to-back treys from Geoff Sprouse to end the streak.
The Mountaineers fought back, scoring the next seven points to even the score at 55-55. Leffew scored five of the Mount's points during the run, including a drive to the bucket with just over seven minutes left that evened things up. American's Greg Jones answered with a three-pointer to put his team back ahead, and the Eagles held a tenuous lead the rest of the way.
Trailing by four, Leffew hit a pair of free throws to make it 66-64 with 1:28 on the clock, and after a defensive stop on a long possession,
Dallas Hobbs hit 1-of-2 at the line with 25 seconds remaining to pull the Mount within one at 66-65. American's Lorenzo Donadio hit 1-of-2 free throws with 18 seconds on the clock to restore the lead, setting up the Mount for a chance to tie. Leffew took the pivotal shot, a runner in the lane that bounced out with American's Matt Rogers getting the board. Rogers was fouled, but hit 1-of-2 at the line, giving the Mount one last chance to tie. After a timeout at midcourt with 2.3 seconds left, the Mount was unable to get the tying shot off before the final buzzer.
Leffew finished the game with 20 points, four boards, two assists and two blocks while Montgomery was 6-of-9 from the field in his double-double effort of 14 points and 10 rebounds.
Jedy Cordilia, who came out strong to open the game, added season highs of 13 points and seven rebounds. Hobbs chipped in eight points and five boards while Tinsley finished with six in the loss. Donadio led all scorers with 22 points, hitting 5-of-7 from three-point range in the game. Sprouse chipped in 11 points off the bench with Rogers also in double figures at 10 points.
The Mount held American to 39.7 percent shooting, but saw the Eagles connect on 11-of-28 (.393) from three-point range in the game. The Mount shot 42.4 percent overall, but was just 4-of-18 (.222) from beyond the arc.
The Mount started the game with a 9-0 run to take the early advantage. Cordilia was the spark in the opening minutes, scoring eight points in the first four minutes of action. The Mountaineers led 32-21 after a Montgomery jumper, but American was able to trim the deficit to 39-33 at the break.
UP NEXT: The Mount hosts Howard on Saturday, November 25, with a 4:00 p.m. tip-off at Knott Arena. Get your tickets
HERE.
