Cincinnati, Ohio—On Saturday, November 13 the Mount St. Joseph University Men's Basketball program participated in the 2021 Lauren Hill Tip-Off classic. In their opening game of the weekend, they played host to Bethany College. The Lions entered this ball game with a (1-1) record early in this season, for Bethany, this was the first game of their 2021 season. For the entirety of the game, it was apparent that the Lions had shaken off the early season rust, winning 85-43.
Opening the game the Lions, made a quick stop, seeing Spencer Kinnett grab the board. On the other end of the court David Luers, knocked down a jumper to give the Lions an early 2-0 lead. This score sparked a 10-0 run by the Mount seeing a score from Kinnett on the ensuing possession, then a Brady Thomas three-pointer, followed by another three, from the hands of Luers.
After the scoring slowed down for the Lions for a little bit, Bethany brought the game to 15-6. At this moment the Lions got hot once again, going on a 10-3 run that lasted over 7-minutes of action, widening the Lion's lead to 25-9. The Mount continued their dominance to finish the first half out, seeing Luers add another eight points to his scoring total. This allowed the Lions to enter the break with a comfortable 24 point lead.
The second half saw the best efforts of both squads, in the opening seven minutes, as Bethany did not allow the Lion's lead to grow past 25 until the 13:30 mark. At this point the offense of the Lions exploded once again seeing Sophomore Jack Kolar get red hot, knocking down three consecutive three-pointers. In the meantime, Freshman Evan Wiehe added five points during this run on two of two shooting. This scoring outburst allowed the Lions to gain their biggest lead of the game, at 43 points with just 3 minutes left to play. As time expired Brandon Barber knocked down a lay-up to secure the Mount's second win of the season, 85-43.
This game saw the Lions shoot 43-percent from the field while pulling down 61 total boards to out-rebound Bethany by a total of 31 rebounds. Additionally, three Lions left their mark on this game, registering double-digit scoring totals. Luers led the way for the Lions, scoring 19 points, and grabbing 3 rebounds. Kolar was very impressive in his time off of the bench for the Lions, adding 16 points of 6 of 8 shooting from the field. Thomas put together a great stat line, scoring 12 points, 5 rebounds, and 3 assists. The Lions were led in rebounding and assists by Senior Devin Young who secured 11 rebounds while distributing 5 assists.
