A win streak for the Mount

First off, let me say, I didn't get to see Friday afternoon's win over Lafayette. I was stuck watching the gametracker view of it, so you don't really know exactly how the game was played.

But let me say this, the effort by Will Holland was huge. The junior from Houston has had a nightmare of a start to the season, but his 19-point effort couldn't have come at a better time. Just one game after not playing at all in the first half of the win over Bryant, Holland knocked down 3-of-4 three pointers and was a key factor in both a first half and a second half run that helped the Mount win on the road for the third time this season with a 67-62 win at Lafayette. If you're a Mount fan, and you've seen this kid struggle at the start of the season yet continue to work hard, you had to feel good for him. Let's hope 2009 is the start of some good things for him.

With it said about Holland, one has to wonder what happened to Kelly Beidler. After really becoming a force in the last few games, particularly on the boards, Beidler played just nine minutes and had three rebounds without a point. Again, I didn't see the game, so it could be that Beidler was injured or possibly sick for the game. He played seven minutes in the first half and two in the second so he may well be nursing something. We're clearly speculating here and we hope that he's 100% healthy for the conference home opener versus Robert Morris on Monday night.

Also a key factor to the Mountie win was the 20-of-26 foul shooting. This was reminiscent of the run to the championship last year. Free throws have been a problem this year and had the Mount continued to shoot at or around its 60% level in this game, it likely wouldn't have gotten the victory.

The game was also the best shooting performance that Jeremy Goode has had in awhile and the team is going to need to get him going in league play. He started the game with a three and finished with 15 points.

The Mount built a 16-point 53-37 lead midway through the second half, so you have to be a little concerned about the fact that the Mount couldn't cruise to the victory, but after a rough shooting first half, in the 33% range, they shot better than 50% in the second made their free throws and got the win.

Road wins are tough to come by and the two game winning streak should give the team some momentum headed to league play on Monday night.