Washington, D.C. (November 30, 2024)--Carmelo Pacheco scored a season-high 18 points to help lead Mount St. Mary's to a 79-75 win at Howard on Saturday afternoon. With the victory, the Mount is off to its best start to a season since joining NCAA Division I in 1988-89. Mount St. Mary's has won four of its past five games to improve to 5-2 on the season.
Howard (3-5) took a 68-67 lead with just under three minutes remaining before the Mount went on a 6-0 run to grab the lead. Ard Jr. hit a pair of free throws to put the Mountaineers ahead, 69-68, with 2:21 left. After a Howard turnover,
Xavier Lipscomb converted a pair at the line for a 71-68 lead. After another Howard turnover with 1:34 remaining, Ard Jr. converted a jumper in the lane on a feed from
Dallas Hobbs to make it 73-68 with 1:15 on the clock. After Howard made it a one possession game with two foul shots, Hobbs converted a tough drive with 31.2 seconds left for a 75-70 lead. From there, Lipscomb sealed the win with four free throws in the final 17 seconds, including a pair with 3.1 seconds remaining that sealed the win.
Carmelo Pacheco led the Mount with a season-high 18 points in the win. Pacheco was on fire in the first half, draining six three-pointers for all 18 of his points. Ard Jr. added a season-high 16 points while adding nine rebounds in the win. He was 4-for-6 from the field while going 8-for-8 at the foul line. Hobbs finished with 17 points and four assists while
Dola Adebayo chipped in 11 points. Lipscomb finished with six points and a team-high five assists for the Mountaineers. Anwar Gill led the Bison with 18 points while Blake Harper finished with 15.
Trailing 26-20 in the first half, Pacheco capped a 13-0 run with a three-pointer on three consecutive possessions to put the Mount ahead, 33-26. Hobbs added a triple in the last minute of the half as the Mountaineers led 36-34 at the break.
Mount St. Mary's shot 42.0 percent from the field in the win while hitting 8-of-23 (.348) from three-point range. Howard shot 46.2 percent overall.
NOTES:
- The win gives the Mount a 5-2 record on the season, the program's best start to a season since the school moved to NCAA Division I in 1988-89. It is also the Mount's best start since the 1986-87 team opened the year with an 11-1 record.
- Mount St. Mary's hit 29-of-30 (.967) at the foul line in the victory, including a perfect 24-for-24 in the second half. In fact, the Mountaineers made their final 29 free throws in the game after missing its first attempt.
- The Mount's effort at the foul line was also a program single-game record for free throw percentage with a minimum of 15 attempts, besting the old mark of .963 (26-of-27) set against Bryant on Feb. 14, 2013. The Mount has been perfect at the line four times in program history, topped by a 12-for-12 performance against Manhattan on Nov. 21, 2000.
- The Mountaineers finished the month of November with a 5-2 record, the most wins in the month in program history. The Mount picked up a pair of road wins in the month with victories at Bucknell and Howard. Prior to this season, the Mount had a total of 14 road wins in November since moving to NCAA Division I.
UP NEXT: The Mount opens Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference play at Marist on Friday, December 6, at 7:00 p.m.
