February 5, 2023—Mount St. Mary's shot 73 percent in the second half to come away with a 79-75 win at Quinnipiac on Sunday afternoon.
Jalen Benjamin led the Mount with 23 points while
Jedy Cordilia added a career high 22 in the victory.
Xavier Lipscomb made the big plays down the stretch with a drive to put the Mount up by four with 14 seconds left, and two free throws with seven seconds left that sealed the victory.
The Mount (8-16, 4-9 MAAC) surged to the lead by opening the second half with 13-to-4 run. Cordilia had a nice finish in the lane to put the Mount ahead, 41-40, and
Jaylin Gibson followed with a jumper to cap the run. The Bobcats (17-7, 8-5 MAAC) rebounded with the next points to take the lead, but Gibson answered with a triple for a 46-44 Mount lead. The Mount stretched the advantage to 53-47 on a Lipscomb three-pointer with 12:55 left.
Leading 56-53, the Mount went on a 9-to-3 run to take its biggest lead of the game at 65-56 with Benjamin and Lipscomb capping the run with buckets. Quinnipiac responded with the next nine points to even the score, but Cordilia came up with a dunk and a basket in the paint on consecutive possessions to put the Mount back on top, 69-65.
The Bobcats pulled within one at 71-70 with 2:56 left, but Cordilia answered with a jumper for a 73-70 lead. After a defensive stop,
George Tinsley was fouled and hit a pair of free throws for a 75-70 lead with 2:14 on the clock.
The Bobcats cut the Mount lead to 75-73 after Luis Kortnight drive with 43.1 seconds left. On the ensuing possession, Lipscomb converted a clutch drive to give the Mont a 77-73 lead with 14.0 seconds left. Kortnight hit a pair of free throws with eight seconds left and Lipscomb was fouled with seven seconds on the clock. He calmly swished both free throws to give the Mount the 79-75 victory.
Benjamin finished 10-for-17 from the field and 3-of-5 from three-point range en route to his game-high 23 points. Cordilia was 11-of-13 from the field while adding eight rebounds in his career high 22-point day. Lipscomb finished with 12 points and Gibson 10 of the bench. Tinsley had a strong all-around game with six points, 11 rebounds, five assists and a pair of blocks.
Matt Balanc led Quinnipiac with 19 points with Kortnight finishing with 17. Dezi Jones added 15 points for the Bobcats in the loss.
The Mount shot 19-of-26 (.731) from the field in the second half and was 3-for-6 from three-point range. The Mount held Quinnipiac to 10-of-32 (.313) shooting in the second half and 23-of-61 (.377) from the field in the game. Quinnipiac stayed in the game by going 20-of-25 (.800) from the foul line compared to the Mount's 8-of-8 (1.000) at the line.
Quinnipiac got off to a quick start, jumping out to an 18-to-4 lead in the opening five minutes. The Bobcats hit 7-of-9 from the field with five different players scoring during the run. The Mount's Benjamin strung together a personal 5-0 mini run to pull the Mount within 18-to-9 at the second media timeout in the opening half.
The Mount continued to surge, making it a 17-to-4 spurt that cut the deficit to 22-21 with 8:13 left in the half after a Cordilia bucket on a feed from Frantisek Barton. After the Bobcats pushed the lead back to five, Benjamin scored on a pull up jumper and Cordilia in the paint make it a one-point game again. Quinnipiac's Jones and Benjamin exchanged three-pointers before the Bobcats closed the half on a 5-0 run to take a 36-30 lead at the break.
Benjamin was 6-of-11 from the field and 2-of-3 from beyond the arc for his 14 first-half points. Cordilia added six points and three boards while Tinsley chipped in six rebounds in the opening half. Jones led Quinnipiac with 10 first-half markers. Quinnipiac shot 44.8 percent (13-of-29) in the half while the Mount was 13-for-34 (.382).
Benjamin and Cordilia are the first pair of Mountaineers to reach 20 points in the same game since Damian Chong Qui (22) and
Josh Reaves (22) against Sacred Heart on January 31, 2021.
Mount St. Mary's returns home to face Siena on Friday, February 10. Tip-off is set for 7:00 p.m.
