Lipscomb takes the lead, makes final play to lift Mount men over Howard

EMMITSBURG — Seeking a knockout punch Saturday evening against Howard University, Xavier Lipscomb delivered for Mount St. Mary's.

Lipscomb's drive down the lane and contested layup with nine seconds to play allowed the Mountaineers to finally put away the Bison, 79-75, at Knott Arena, marking the second consecutive season they have beaten Howard by the same score.

It's the type of play the Mount has come to expect from its leader of the last two seasons. With the game on the line, the team put the ball in his hands, and he made the right play.

"They brought a bunch of pressure, and we just wanted to get [Lipscomb] downhill to his right hand and then let him make a play," Mount St. Mary's coach Donny Lind said. "And the play to be made was to go make the layup."

Lipscomb, a 6-foot-2, 195-pound guard and graduate student, often has the ball in these situations, at least at the start of them. But, not known for his offensive prowess, he is not often the one to take the shot.

His game-clinching layup was his ninth shot of the game and gave him nine points.

"Really, like Coach said, just making the right play for the team," Lipscomb said. "Just trying to get downhill and see what my options were. ... [The decision] was kind of last minute. Once I kind of like [Euro stepped], I was at the front of the rim. Might as well lay it up at this point."

The win was critical for Mount St. Mary's (2-6), which had lost four in a row mostly punching above its weight class against major-conference or mid-major foes. On Tuesday, the Mountaineers lost 113-60 at Ohio State.

So, getting back on the home floor for the second time this season against an opponent more on its level, it was important for the Mount to produce a win and get the good vibes flowing again, especially with its next two games against Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference foes.

"It's good to get going, use this game to get going, and just try to keep on winning," said redshirt-senior forward Justin Amadi, who scored a game-high 21 points for the Mount and pulled down 10 rebounds. The 6-foot-7, 225-pound Amadi played at Tulsa last season and James Madison the three seasons prior.

To get the win, Mount St. Mary's had to find a way to shake off Howard (4-5), which kept rallying from double-digit deficits to remain competitive.

The Bison led for a total of six seconds. They trailed by as many as 13 and pulled even on three occasions.

With 8 minutes and 18 seconds to play, Howard was down by 11 after a 13-2 run by Mount St. Mary's. Yet, the Bison battled back and had three chances to take the lead in the final three minutes, all on 3-point shots that misfired.

From the Mount perspective, Lind said, "We've been on the road for a while. We had some rough, close defeats and some rough, not-so-close defeats. But it tested who we are and the type of resolve that we have, and the type of togetherness that we had. And I thought today, you know, we showed that.

"We showed togetherness and toughness and resolve that we've been trying to continue to build in this group. And it's great to have that and get the result you are looking forward to."

Junior guard Alex Cotton scored 15 points to lead five scorers in double figures for Howard, while Mount St. Mary's overcame 15 turnovers to pull out the win.

The Mountaineers open league play at 7 p.m. Wednesday at Knott Arena against Sacred Heart, an old Northeast Conference rival that is now in its first season in the MAAC. And then the Mount will play its first road MAAC game at 7 p.m. Friday at Marist.

"We get these two league games here in the middle of December," Lind said. "And, so, just continuing to build. It's all about having a great response to this win. You know, we have tomorrow off and then have a couple of days of practice to respond and continue to get better. Then, we have a really good Sacred Heart team that was picked ahead of us in the league to come in here."