N. MANCHESTER, Indiana - The Mount St. Joseph men's basketball team hit the road on Saturday, heading to take on the Spartans of Manchester College. The two teams were extremely closely matched throughout the game, but the Spartans pulled away late to secure the HCAC win.
The Mount jumped out to an early lead in the game opening the game on a 14-6 run. With
Luke Collinsworth leading the way scoring seven point in the run. The two squads stayed close the rest of the first half, eventually playing to a 35-all tie at the break.
The second half was much of the same with neither team ever leading by more than six. The Lions led by five with 2:00 to play in the game, after a pair of Collinsworth free throws. Manchester went on a 9-0 run over the next 1:40 to take a four point lead.
Jason Lavender drilled a three-pointer with :12 to go to pull the Lions back within one. Manchester hit a pair of free throws to go back up by three. Manchester then fouled on the Lions next possession, in order to assure the Lions could not get a three pointer to tie the game.
Willard Cluxton hit the first free throw, he missed the second and after a Manchester rebound the Lions were forced to foul again. Manchester hit both free throws to put the game away.
Collinsworth led the way with 23 points, on a extremely efficient 9-of-12 shooting from the field. He always had a team-high 9 rebounds.
Dylan Hammonds continued his run of solid play, scoring 16-points and pulling down 8 rebounds.
Jason Lavender was the only other Lion in double-figures scoring 12 points, going 2-for-4 from three-point range.
UP NEXT:
The Lions will welcome the Transylvania Pioneers into the Harrington Center on Wednesday night. The game is scheduled to get underway at 7:30 PM.
