Mount St. Mary’s rolls in First Four, to face Duke

• Adam RittenbergMar 19, 2025, 09:16 PM ET

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  College football press reporter; signed up with ESPN in 2008. Graduate of Northwestern University.DAYTON, Ohio– When

Mount St. Mary’s guard Xavier Lipscomb hit a 3-pointer before anybody could blink, everyone sensed Wednesday night’s game would be a bit different.The Mountaineers had actually won the City Atlantic Athletic Conference tournament without eclipsing 63 points. They had actually reached 80 points only two times in 2025. Defense had actually moved the Mount down the stretch, as it held challengers to 65.1 points during an 11-3 finish.But Wednesday’s First Four match against American carried a different speed.

The teams integrated for 25 points in the very first 4:05 and 40 in the first 8:09. Editor’s Picks 2 Associated” I like offense. I would prefer to play by doing this,”coach Donny Lind said.”I would rather win 83-73 than 53-43. I was just a little worried that with all the injuries we had and the lack of depth, [whether] we have actually got enough firepower to make it through.” Mount St. Mary’s had ample in an 83-72 win over American. The Mountaineers, who won a tournament game at UD Arena for the third time in their history, advanced in the East Region, where they will face No. 1 seed Duke on Friday in Raleigh, North Carolina.Lind’s suspicions about depth proved real, as Mount St. Mary’s had only 7 players score Wednesday. But three of them– forwards Dola Adebayo and Jedy Cordilia,

and guard Dallas Hobbs– combined for 61 points. Cordilia made 10 of 11 shot efforts and got 7 rebounds, while Adebayo rocked the rim numerous times as the Mountaineers capitalized on an American group that lost star forward Matt Rogers to a best knee injury late in the first half.Mount St. Mary’s ended up being the third MAAC team to have three players score 17 points or more in an NCAA competition game, signing up with Iona in 2017 and Manhattan in 1993.”In the MAAC, most of our games, they’re gritty, nasty, it comes

down to defense,”stated Hobbs, who scored 17 points and struck 4-of-8 3-point attempts.” This game, it boiled down to who gets more containers. So it’s a various game.”Cordilia and the other forwards attempted to assault Rogers and ideally get the Patriot League competition MVP in foul difficulty. Rogers left with 5:28 left in the first half.”It sucked that he got injured,” Adebayo stated. “I’m praying that he gets better. But the mind-set stays the same.After a 48-point first half, Mount St. Mary’s saw its lead cut to five with 15:11 left, but the offense once again rose, both inside and out, as an Adebayo dunk swelled the benefit to 17.” Earlier in the year, we were playing a lot more like this, a lot more up and

down, shooting a lot of 3s in transition,”Lind stated.” Our guys fell back into that comfort level.” Lind, in his very first season as head coach after working as a Mount St. Mary’s

assistant from 2013 to 2016, confessed he struggles to review the big photo. When he left for the national anthem Wednesday night, he stated it felt like a”holy cow “moment.Another will get here Friday when the

Mountaineers take on Duke.”To go down to Raleigh and play Duke is incredible,”stated Lind, seated beside his 9-year-old child, Silas, after the game. “We saw a lot of Duke basketball as kids, even if they were on TV. It’s certainly an interesting opportunity, so

we’ve got to prepare and offer it everything we have actually got.”