Lexington, Kentucky—On Wednesday, February 9, the Mount St. Joseph University Men's Basketball program traveled to the campus of Transylvania University for the second half of the series between the two teams. Earlier in the season the two teams met, seeing the Lions drop a tightly contested game by a final score of 67-59. Entering this game the Pioneers would find themselves sixth in the Heartland Conference standings, while the Lions looked to improve their footing from their current eight place status and add to their recent three game winning streak. This evening, the program would make their best efforts but come up short 79-69.
It was Jack Kolar who earned the Lions the first draw of the contest, this was followed up by stops by both defenses. After another Mount stop, it was Senior guard locating Kolar for the second deep-ball of the evening. The three-ball would continue to fall in the opening moments of the game, as Thomas dished out his third assist of the evening to fellow Senior, Devin Young would connect on his first attempt from deep. This would see the Lions in control of a 9-0 lead before the Pioneers would claim their first score of the night off a layup.
The Pioneers would continue to pull closer coming out of a media stoppage, knocking down a three-ball of their own. It would be Spencer Kinnett who would bring this 5-0 run to a halt, finishing a lay-up. The Lions would go on defense and force a miss, to allow Alex Totton to find Kinnett for another score in the paint. In typical fashion of the early game dramatics, the Pioneers would respond with an 8-0 that would tie the game at 13-13 with 10 minutes of first-half action remaining.
For the next two minutes of play, both teams would match each other bucket for bucket. Transylvania would establish a run, knocking down three consecutive three-balls to give themselves 28-20. This lead would continue to grow for the home team, reaching 45-27 before the break.
In the second half of action, the Lions would find themselves falling behind even more, as the deficit grew. With 14:35 left to play the Lions were trailing by a score of 56-36. However the Lions did not go down without a fight, Evan Wiehe would get the Lions comeback attempt rolling, knocking down a deep ball. Totton would then get a bucket a few possessions later. After a platoon-style substitution, Kolar would connect on his next two three-point attempts and Thomas would knock down a deep ball of his own. After this series of three-pointers and a Devin Young jump-shot, the Lions trailed by only 13.
Under 10 minutes remaining Totton would dial up his second assist of the evening, finding David Luers for a three-point bucket. This shot would bring the score to 69-57. With the Lions desperately trying to get back into the game the senior pair of Tanner Clos and Young would facilitate a 10-3 run, including back-to-back three-pointers from the hands of the big man. Despite their efforts, the Mount could not crawl back into this game, falling short, 79-69.
There were several Lions who helped the team keep the game close. Thomas led the team in scoring with 18, shooting an impressive 6-8 from the field, while adding 5 assists. Young finished with 15 points, 5 rebounds, and 5 assists. Kolar would add 12 points, all from three, shooting a red-hot 66%. Clos was efficient for the team, scoring 8 points on 3-4 shooting from the field and going a perfect 2-2 from the charity stripe. The senior was also able to help the team on the glass, pulling in five rebounds.
The Lions will begin preparing for their next opponent, the Earlham Quakers. This game will take place on Saturday, February 12. The game will be played at Earlham College, with tip-off set for 3pm. For continued coverage of this upcoming game and all other MSJ Athletics continue to follow msjlions.com
