Not enough charity is found at home
Mountaineers fail to get to free-throw line in second half, drop to 5th in NEC standings
EMMITSBURG — There’s not a lot of time to dwell between Northeast Conference men’s basketball games this season, something Mount St. Mary’s is hoping falls in its favor this weekend.
The Mount welcomed Sacred Heart to Knott Arena on Saturday for the first of back-to-back matchups, with the foes tied for fourth place in the conference standings and the season reaching its midway point.
The Pioneers prevailed 61-58 and handed MSM its first home loss of the year on a day that saw the Mountaineers fail to get to the free-throw line in the second half.
“We’ve got to turn the page fast,” said Mount coach Dan Engelstad, whose team fell to 5-7, 4-4 in the NEC. “We’ve got to play better basketball [and] we’ve got to coach better basketball.”
Sacred Heart (6-5, 6-4) led by as many as 10 points with less than 10 minutes to play before Mount St. Mary’s tried to put together a comeback. The Mount drew even at 45-45 with 6 minutes, 30 seconds to go after freshman guard Josh Reaves sank a 3-pointer from the right corner. But MSM went two minutes without scoring while Sacred Heart built another lead.
The Pioneers got a key 3-pointer from junior guard Aaron Clarke with 2:35 remaining, giving them a 55-51 advantage. Mount St. Mary’s twice pulled to within one point but couldn’t complete the rally.
Junior forward Nana Opoku paced the Mount with a season-high 19 points to go with 10 rebounds and six blocks. Opoku was the lone Mountaineer in double figures, but fellow junior big man Malik Jefferson grabbed 11 rebounds and junior guard Damian Chong Qui, the reigning NEC Co-Player of the Week, added nine points, eight boards and six assists.
Engelstad lamented one stat in particular — his team had zero trips to the freethrow line after halftime, while Sacred Heart posted an 11-for-11 mark over the final 20 minutes. The Mount was 3-for-4 on the day compared to the Pioneers’ 14-for-15.
“I don’t know how we didn’t shoot any free throws … especially as aggressive as we are,” Engelstad said. “That’s something that hopefully we can get to the basket [Sunday] and finish some plays.”
Mount St. Mary’s collected 24 offensive rebounds and came up with 24 secondchance points, but Sacred Heart took advantage of the home team missing a handful of close-range baskets in the first half to build its lead. Clarke had 16 points for the Pioneers, and freshman forward Bryce Johnson added 12 points and eight rebounds.
Tyler Thomas entered the game leading the NEC in scoring at 20.1 points per game, but MSM held the sophomore guard to seven points on 3-for-13 shooting.
MSM was 15-5 all time at home against Sacred Heart before Saturday’s setback.