Men's Basketball Holds Off Late Manchester Surge to Win Third HCAC Game In A Row

CINCINNATI, Ohio - The Mount St. Joseph University men's basketball program continued their recent run off success with a 77-73 over Manchester. The Lions dominated the first half, before holding off a big second half run by the Spartans to move to 4-2 in the Heartland Collegiate Athletic Conference this season.

Freshman Kelvin Turner led the way offensively for Coach Carrigan and the Lions. Turner scored a game-high 24 in 27 minutes of action off the bench. 

The Mount took control of the action early racing out with a 15-5 run over the first 6:26 of play. The early surge was buoyed by sophomore Dayne Gardner who scored the first eight points of the game. 

They were fantastic on both ends in the first half, as they shot 55 percent (17-31) from the field and 47 percent (7-15) from three. They did that while holding Manchester to 20 percent from the field and 18 percent from three in the half. When all was said and done the Lions carried a 44-20 lead into the break.

Manchester though is not the type of team that is ever out of a game, as a team full of outstanding shooters they are never out of a game. 

During the early portions of the second  half it looked like the Lions would continue their dominant run, but with 7:58 to go the game flipped. The Lions held an 18-point lead, but Manchester turned up the defensive pressure. The Spartans put together a 16-2 run to pull within four points with 2:19 to play, they did so mostly by forcing MSJ turnovers that led directly to buckets. 

The Spartans forced the Lions into 15 second half turnovers, which led to 21 points. The Lions though did just enough down the stretch to secure the victory, going 6-of-8 from the free throw line over the last two minutes.

Outside of Turner's performance the Lions relied on a balanced offensive attack, two other Lions scored in double-figures Jack Kolar (13) and Gardner (10). Every Lion who played in the game scored at least 2 points. Luke Collinsworth led the way with a game-high 8 rebounds, while Gardner and Nate Kratzer each pitched in 7 boards. The also shared the ball well with 16 assists on 25 made baskets, Willard Cluxton led the way with a game-high 5 assists and Collinsworth had a season-high 4. 

UP NEXT: 

The Lions will hit the road on Wednesday heading south to Lexington, Ky to take on the Pioneers of Transylvania University (6-7, 3-3 HCAC) the game is scheduled to get underway at 7:30 PM.