Mt. St. Mary's did what it had to do and downed an overconfident Bryant bunch 74-45 at the Knott Arena on Saturday night.
The performance was solid but it wasn't quite as sharp as it has been in recent weeks - still the Mounties had no trouble with the Bulldogs who entered off their only win of the season.
Jeremy Goode had another fine performance and Shawn Atupem had a big night inside as the Mount cruised to the victory. The Mount jumped out to a 13-3 lead, and led 25-9 later in the first half as it put the game away early. From there, they played a lot of players and got a little sluggish, but finished things off with a flurry after the Bulldogs had pulled within 12 in the second half.
Quinnipiac downed Robert Morris in Moon Township - so the Mount can do no better than 3rd in the conference standings. The Mount is currently tied with Long Island for 3rd in the NEC race. Quinnipiac's win in Pittsburgh means that if the Bobcats win twice next week, and the Mount beats Robert Morris in the regular season finale at the Mount next weekend, QU would be the NEC champ. It also helps the Mount in its quest to get a third place spot in the NEC playoffs - as a QU and RMU tie would be beneficial in the tiebreakers for the Mount. LIU travels to Bryant and Central Connecticut to finish its season. If QU and RMU tie at the top and the Mount and LIU tie for third - the Mount would earn the third slot - based on my calculations.
Atupem had career highs of 18 points and 8 rebounds, while Goode finished with a team-high 19. Kelly Beidler had 9, while Raven Barber and Will Holland each had 8.
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Hopefully the Mount can go out and help QU next weekend. That would not only allow Quinnipiac to get the top seed, but to keep them away from the red-hot Mount until the finals.
ReplyDeleteRay, that would be really nice to help QU. I was at the game against RMU and was impressed with the Bobcats composure. If there was not a Mount, then the Bobcats would be the team I root for. Heck we even wore Bobcat shirts and were hollering and cheering them on. I believe we were louder than the almost 2000 RMU fans who were pathetically quiet. Really nice game to watch.
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