Lions' men's basketball team slips to third place in the HCAC with home loss to Rose-Hulman

HCAC first place Rose-Hulman used a swarming defensive effort, and productive inside-outside offensive attack, grabbing a 14-point halftime lead en route to a 52-36 win at the Mount on early Saturday evening. With the loss the Lions drop to 5-8 overall, 4-2 in the HCAC and into a third place conference tie with Hanover College.

The Fightin' Engineers grabbed their double-digit lead in the first 20 minutes of action thanks to shooting 55 percent while holding the Mount to 22 percent shooting from the field. Rose-Hulman led the entire first half on the scoreboard, as their bench out-scored the Lions reserves, 16-1 in the opening half.

The Lions would never knock the deficit to under double-digits in the second half, as they were out-shot from the field by Rose-Hulman, 54 to 41 percent in the final 20 minutes of action. The Mount suffered through its second straight game of cold outside shooting, connecting on only one-of-10 three-point shots. They out-rebounded the Fightin' Engineers, however, 24-21, but committed 16 turnovers while forcing 12 Rose miscues.

Andy Countryman (Peebles, OH/Peebles) paced the Lions with 14 points while teammate Donald Bush (Cincinnati, OH/North College Hill) added a game-high eight rebounds. David Mann (Fairfield, OH/Cincinnati Christian) chipped in seven poiints and four rebounds.