Emmitsburg, Md. (November 25, 2023)—Mount St. Mary's staged a furious rally to force overtime, but came up just short in an 87-83 double-overtime loss to Howard on Saturday afternoon at Knott Arena. Senior guard
Dakota Leffew led the Mount with 22 points while freshman
Dallas Hobbs chipped in a season-high 20.
Dola Adebayo's dunk with 1.7 seconds left capped a 12-to-2 Mount run to close regulation for force overtime. Trailing 66-64, the Mount called timeout to set up the game-tying play. Adebayo took the inbounds pass at the elbow, faked the handoff, and then drove to the basket, finishing with a dunk to even the score. Howard inbounded the ball to Jelani Williams, who had a lay-up attempt at the buzzer miss.
Howard (3-4) used a 9-0 run to establish a 64-54 lead with just under four minutes remaining before the Mount rally. Hobbs hit a pair of free throws to start the rally, Leffew converting a lay-up off a steal to cut the deficit to six. Adebayo's two free throws with 2:26 on the clock made it 64-60, but Howard's Isiah Warfield scored on a drive to make it a six-point game with 2:09 remaining.
Hobbs converted a drive, and after a stop on the defensive end, Adebayo's putback made it 66-64 with 1:11 left. The Mount defense came up with another stop, setting up Adebayo's tying dunk.
In the first overtime session, Leffew was fouled on a three-pointer with 1:37 remaining and the Mount trailing 70-68. Leffew calmly sank all three free throws to put the Mount on top. Howard's Bryce Harris answered on the other end with a lay-up, but Hobbs answered that with a drive of his own for a 73-72 Mount lead with 49 seconds on the clock. Leffew then came up with a steal to give the Mount possession, and he hit two more free throws with 18 seconds left for a 75-72 lead. Howard's Seth Towns forced double-overtime when he drained a three-pointer with two seconds remaining.
Howard scored the first six points of the second overtime to take control with an 81-75 lead.
Jedy Cordilia hit 1-of-2 at the line and then hit a putback to cut Howard's lead to 81-78, but Towns converted a bank shot and then Warfield hit two free throws to make it 85-78. Howard was able to hold on from there to earn the win.
Leffew led the Mount with 22 points while adding three assists and two steals in the game. Hobbs added 20 points, four rebounds and three assists while Cordilia finished with 16 points and eight boards in the game. Adebayo was the fourth Mountaineer in double figures with 13 points and six rebounds, and
Joshua Reaves chipped in eight points and five rebounds.
Towson led all scorers with 26 points, including six in the second overtime period, while grabbing 11 rebounds for a double-double. Harris hit all 10 of his field goal attempts while going 3-for-3 at the line for 23 points with Williams adding 15 points, eight rebounds and five assists in the victory. Shy Odom also reached double figures for Howard with 12 points with eight rebounds and four helpers.
The Bison jumped out to a 5-0 lead in the early going, but the Mount was able to even the score at 10-10 with 12:13 left on a Reaves three-pointer. Howard stretched the lead to 28-23 on a Towson three-pointer, but the Mount closed the half on a 10-to-4 run to take a 33-32 halftime advantage.
The Mount finished the game 28-of-64 (.438) from the field and 7-of-20 (.350) from three-point range. Howard shot 45.3 percent (29-of-64) overall and was 6-of-22 (.273) from beyond the arc. The Bison held a 46-to-30 rebound advantage and were 23-of-25 (.920) from the foul line. The Mount countered by forcing 21 turnovers.
UP NEXT: The Mount opens Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference play at Manhattan on Friday, December 1, at 7:00 p.m. at Draddy Gymnasium.
