Atlantic City, N.J. (March 7, 2023)—No. 8 seed Mount St. Mary's survived and advanced in a 67-66 overtime win over No. 9 seed Canisius on Tuesday in the Hercules Tires Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference Tournament First Round.  Dakota Leffew paced the Mount with 15 points, including the go-ahead jumper with 1:35 left in overtime.

Trailing 33-26 at the half, the Mount came out strong in the second half, pulling within a point at 37-36 when Xavier Lipscomb hit 1-of-2 at the line.  The Golden Griffins held a 41-38 lead when Leffew drained a three-point jumper to tie the score, and Dola Adebayo scored in the paint off a feed from Jalen Benjamin to put the Mount ahead.  The Golden Griffins responded, taking a 46-44 advantage on a Tre Dinkins three-pointer.

The Mount (13-19) countered with a 9-0 run to take a 53-46 lead at the midpoint of the second half.  Tinsley and Lipscomb each scored in the paint to start the run, and a Leffew triple made it a 51-46 lead.  Jedy Cordilia finished in the paint with a dunk to make it a seven-point advantage with 10:04 left in regulation.

Both offenses stalled at that point, with Canisius scoring four points in a row over the next five minutes to make it 53-50.  Cordilia scored on a nice post move, and a Benjamin pull-up jumper made it 57-50 with 4:05 left.

The Mount held a 59-52 lead with 3:19 left in regulation after a Malik Jefferson bucket, but Canisius (10-20) scored the next four points, all at the free throw line, to make it 59-56 with 2:49 on the clock.  Jordan Henderson scored on a putback bucket with 58.9 seconds left, but Benjamin's jumper with 36 ticks left put the Mount up, 61-58.  Henderson answered with a three to even the score with 23.2 seconds left.  The Mount turned the ball over on the final possession, forcing overtime.

After Benjamin opened the overtime period with a basket to put the Mount on top, Canisius scored the next five points to build a 66-63 lead with 2:37 remaining.  Cordilia scored on a hook shot with 2:20 left to cut the deficit to one, and after a stop on the defensive end, Leffew scored on a turnaround jumper in the paint to put the Mount ahead, 67-66.

Canisius saw Jacco Fritz miss a three on the next possession, but the Mount did not convert on the other end.  Fritz again had a shot to put Canisius in front, but his lay-up was off the mark, and Jefferson secured the rebound and was fouled with 4.5 seconds remaining.  Jefferson missed the front end of the 1-and-1, but Tahj Staveskie's desperation three at the buzzer was short, and the Mount survived to advance to the MAAC Quarterfinals.

Leffew finished with 15 points, hitting 3-of-7, from three-point range to lead the Mount.  Benjamin added 13 points and five assists while Tinsley stuffed the stat sheet with 10 points, 11 rebounds and five helpers.  It is Tinsely's second double-double of the year.  Cordilia added eight points and five rebounds while Jefferson had five points and a game-high 14 rebounds.  Lipscomb also had a strong game off the bench with five points, four rebounds and four assists.

Henderson led all scorers with 20 points for Canisius with Stahveski adding 14.  Xzavier Long added a double-double of 12 points and 12 rebounds for the Golden Griffins.
Canisius used an 18-to-4 run to take control of the game in the first half.  A Henderson three-pointer gave his team its biggest lead at 29-15 with five minutes left in the half.  The Mount was able to chip away at the deficit with a Tinsley three making it 33-26 at the half.

The Mount moves on to the quarterfinal round to face top-seeded Iona at 7:00 p.m. at Jim Whelan Boardwalk Hall in Atlantic City.