Cincinnati, Ohio—After an almost nine day break, the Mount St. Joseph University Basketball program returned to action this evening. This game saw the Lions put their (2-2) record on the line, as the Eagles of Asbury College traveled to the Harrington Center. This game was tightly contested in the first half, before the Lions pulled away in the second half to win 87-68, thanks to huge performances by Young and Thomas.
Asbury was able to get the opening score of the ball game, knocking down an early set of free throws. On the ensuing Lions possession, Senior Devin Young opened up the scoring for the Lions with a three-point basket assisted by Evan Wiehe. After a stop by the Lions defense, Wiehe made good on his first attempt of the evening, knocking down a three of his own. After this point both teams traded scores, with neither side able to gain an advantage.
David Luers and Brady Thomas both provided the Lions with an early spark off of the bench, knocking down consecutive three-point attempts to help the Lions edge ahead 24-23 with 7:44 left in the first half.
Following a media timeout the Lions defense came up with another stop, leading to Luers quickly locating Spencer Kinnett for an easy bucket, giving them the largest advantage of the game. On the following possession the Lions once again knocked down a deep shot as Jack Kolar found Alex Totton in the corner on a fast break, this was followed by another Kolar assist to Thomas for the second deep ball in as many trips. However Asbury quickly responded with a three of their own, to knot the game up at 32-32.
The Lions continued to remain hot on the offensive end of the floor, as Kolar was fouled on a three-point attempt, late in the half. This saw Kolar knock down all three free-throws to widen the lead to 35-32 in favor of the Lions, while providing a spark to the hot hand.
Kolar continued his dominance to end the first half, knocking down consecutive three's, helping the team build their first run of the evening. This helped the Mount close out the first half of play on an 11-6 run, going to the break with a 43-38 lead.
The second half of the ball game started off the similar to the first, with the Eagles getting an early score, followed by a Young three-pointer. This shot helped the Lions assemble an 8-0 run to start the second half, giving them their largest lead of the game at 51-42.
Despite the Mount's explosive scoring to start the second half, Asbury was able to hang in the game, eventually cutting the score to 59-51 with 13 minutes left to play. Young continued to offer a steady hand to the Lions, as Sophomore Guard Willard Cluxton found him wide-open on a fast break, then knocking down another easy lay-up the next trip down the floor. The Eagles were able to knock down a three-pointer to bring their deficit under 10. However Young responded with yet another three of his own. This saw the Lions enter the final 10 minutes of play with a controlling 66-55 lead.
Despite Asbury turning up the pressure with a full court press, the Lions were able to regain their footing, reopening a double digit lead with timely scores by Young and Thomas.
With three minutes remaining in the game, the Lions held a 77-65 lead over the Eagles. Following a time-out the Mount forced an Asbury miss that allowed Thomas to locate Kinnett for an easy fast-break bucket. This was followed by Thomas knocking down consecutive shots from behind the arc to spark an 10-2 run to close out the ball game.
The Lions played a great all around game, shooting 46 percent from behind the arc and out rebounding Asbury 37-23. This game saw three Lions players crack double digit scoring. Young and Thomas led the team in scoring, each accounting for 26 total points. In addition to his season high scoring total, Young pulled down eight boards while dishing out three assists. Kolar's hot finish to the end of the first half saw him record 11 points and 3 assists.
With this win the Mount St. Joseph University Men's Basketball program improves their record to (3-2) overall. The Lions will be back in action on Saturday, December 4, when the host Anderson University. For continued coverage of the Men's Basketball season and all other MSJ athletics continue to follow msjlions.com
