Lawrenceville, N.J. (February 26, 2023)—Mount St. Mary's topped Rider, 63-58, behind a strong defensive effort at Alumni Gymnasium on Sunday afternoon.  Jalen Benjamin led the Mount with 15 points while Malik Jefferson added a double-double with 13 points and a season-high 14 rebounds.  Dakota Leffew chipped in 14 points for the Mount, which improved to 11-19 overall and 7-12 in the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference.

Leading by nine at the half, the Mount came out strong in the second stanza, taking a 42-27 advantage after a Jefferson free throw with 17 minutes left in the game.  Leffew scored on a drive to the bucket to put the Mount up 44-29 with 13:55 on the clock before Rider (15-12, 12-6 MAAC) rallied.

The Broncs went on a 9-0 run to cut the Mount's advantage to 44-38 with just under 11 minutes remaining.  Jefferson hit a pair of free throws to stop the run, and Benjamin connected on a three for a 51-43 Mount lead with 8:10 left.

Rider pulled within 54-51 after a Dwight Murray Jr. three-pointer with 6:04 on the clock, but Benjamin countered with a jumper and two free throws to give the Mount a seven-point lead.  Rider was able to chip away at the deficit, pulling withing 58-56 after a Tariq Ingraham free throw.  The Mount stepped out of bounds on the rebound, but Rider's Allen Powell missed on a jumper with 1:06 on the clock. 

On the ensuing possession, the Mount collected a pair of offensive rebounds on missed three-pointers, the second by George Tinsley who fed Frantisek Barton for a basket with 17.2 seconds left to a 60-56 advantage.  Barton was fouled on the play, but he missed the free throw.  The Mount's Xavier Lipscomb then came up with a steal, and was fouled with 12.3 seconds on the clock.  Lipscomb calmly sank both free throws to make it 62-56.  Ingraham scored with 3.2 seconds on the clock to make it 62-58, but the Mount's Deandre Thomas hit 1-of-2 at the line to close out the scoring.

Benjamin was 6-of-14 from the field for his team-high 15 points.  Jefferson went 4-of-6 from the field and 5-of-7 at the line for 13 points while grabbing his season-high 14 rebounds.  It is the 17^th career double-double for Jefferson, who is the Mount's all-time leader in that category in the school's NCAA Division I era (since 1988-89).  Jedy Cordilia added six points and eight boards off the bench in the win.  Rider was led by Mervin James, who had 14 points and nine rebounds while Ingraham added 11 points and six boards.

The Mount shot 44.0 percent in the game and was 15-of-25 (.600) at the foul line.  Rider shot 37.7 percent overall and 4-of-16 (.250) from three-point range in the loss.  The Mount held a 42-34 advantage on the boards.

Rider got off to the quick start, taking a 9-3 advantage after a James basket with 15:42 left in the first half.  The Mount took over from there, rattling off 19 unanswered points over the next nine minutes to take control of the game.

Jalen Benjamin's reverse lay-up off a drive tied the score at 9-9, and the senior guard added a bucket to put the Mount ahead.  Cordilia then scored the next six points to put the Mount up, 17-9.  After a pair of Leffew free throws, Tinsley drained a three for a 22-9 advantage.  Rider's Ajiri Ogemuno-Johnson snapped the scoreless streak, but a Jefferson free throw and a Benjamin pull-up jumper gave the Mount a 25-11 advantage.

Leffew hit a long three-pointer to put the Mount up 28-14, and he added a baseline jumper for a 30-18 Mountaineer advantage.  The Mount went to the locker room with a 31-22 halftime lead.
The Mount shot 48.0 percent (12-of-25) in the opening half and held a 22-to-16 edge on the boards.  The Mountaineers held Rider to 10-of-33 (.303) shooting in the half.

The game was the 131^st career game for Jefferson, tying him with Junior Robinson (2014-18) for the Mount's career record for games played.  Jefferson has started 129 of his 131 career games, tallying 1,100 points and 888 rebounds.  He is the school's all-time rebound leader in the Mount's Division I era (since 1988-89).

The Mount closes out the regular season on Saturday, March 4, with a road game at Manhattan.  The MAAC Tournament will be held March 7-11 at Boardwalk Hall in Atlantic City, N.J.