Lions' men's basketball drops 52 points in second half to topple 11-point halftime deficit

Head Coach Toby Carrigan and the Mount's men's basketball team won their season opener Tuesday night, 73-65 against Wilmington College. The victory is first-year Head Coach Carrigan's first career victory at the Mount and his first as a collegiate head coach. Coach Carrigan had this to say about his first victory, "It feels good because I thought all of our guys contributed, including those that didn't get in. It was a total team effort. Whether it is your first or your 10th win it's always satisfying."

It was a tale of two halves on Tuesday night as the Lions trailed by 11 points going into halftime. The Quakers converted on 14 of 20 free throw attempts in the first half and took advantage of the Lions' 12 turnovers to go into half with the lead.  

That lead was cut to six after seven minutes into the second half when David Mann (Fairfield, OH/Cincinnati Christian) knocked down a three-point field goal making the score 39-33 in Wilmington's favor. The Mount took the lead from the Quakers halfway through the second half with Alex Cole's (Fairfield, OH/Ross) three-point field goal giving the Lions a 42-41 lead. From that point forward the Lions never looked back as the Quakers only took the lead one more time on the night with a Quaker dunk shortly after the Mount went ahead. The Lions went on to score 52 points in the second half to avenge last year's season opening defeat to the Quakers.

Mann led the team with 21 points making three crucial three-pointers for the Lions. Freshman Andy Countryman (Peebles, OH/Peebles) contributed 15 points in his first game with the Lions and played a team-high 38 minutes. Seniors David Lane (Hamilton, OH/Ross) and  Cliff Cass (Cincinnati, OH/Mt. Healthy) played with a lot of hustle and heart tonight as they commanded the floor and led the Lions to a great comeback. Lane added 12 points, seven assists, five steals, and five rebounds. Six of Lane's assists and four of his steals came in the second half.

Coach Carrigan also commented on the come-from-behind victory, "We made defensive stops, did a better job of not turning the ball over, and since we didn't turn the ball over we were able to get some good offensive possessions. That's what you have to do to get yourself back in the game. The guys played hard and battled tonight."