EMMITSBURG — There will be basketball in March for Mount St. Mary’s, an improvement for coach Dan Engelstad in his second year as coach of the men’s team. And despite the Mountaineers limping into postseason play, they feel confident they can contend for a Northeast Conference tournament title.
Their regular-season finale Saturday afternoon wasn’t a thing of beauty, with Fairleigh Dickinson coming into Knott Arena and rolling past the home team 83-77. Still, the Mount is the No. 6 seed in next week’s NEC tourney, with a quarterfinal road game on tap Wednesday, March 4 against third-seeded Sacred Heart.
MSM enters the playoffs with nine losses in its last 10 games, and a 2-8 record in February. The Mount’s defense allowed 71.5 points per game in the month, and Fairleigh Dickinson dropped 80 on the Mountaineers for the second time in that stretch.
“I told the guys, though, at the beginning of the season, there’s three different seasons to this thing,” Engelstad said. “You’ve got your non-conference, you’ve got your conference, and then you’ve got playoffs. Last year we were in a position where we weren’t playing in March, and this year we are. And anything can change, and it can change fast. If we want to go get a road win at Sacred Heart, we’re going to have to play much better and we’re going to have to be much tougher.”
Mount St. Mary’s won nine games in Engelstad’s first year but went 6-12 in the NEC and missed the postseason tournament. This year, the Mount (11-20) finished 7-11 in the conference but failed to earn the No. 5 seed in the tourney with Saturday’s loss.
Xzavier Malone-Key led Fairleigh Dickinson (11-18, 9-9) with 24 points and Jahlil Jenkins scored 23, and the Knights’ guards combined for six 3-pointers. FDU shot 52.6% from 3-point range compared to MSM’s 20.8% (5-for-24).
“I thought we were flat, we weren’t making shots," Engelstad said about his team’s start. "It wasn’t a well-played first half, it was sloppy. Our defense wasn’t there either half. And for us, if we want to win games, that has got to be there for us.”
The Mount trailed by 10 points at halftime and couldn’t come up with enough rhythm on offense to put together a serious rally. Malik Jefferson’s layup with 7:01 to play trimmed FDU’s lead to 61-56, but the Knights answered with back-to-back layups from Elyjah Williams (15 points) on successive possessions.
Mount St. Mary’s went cold for a spell, and Williams stamped his night with a slam dunk to make it 70-60 with less than 4 minutes to play. Malone-Key later scored from in close to end a FDU trip that included three missed shots and three offensive rebounds with 2:14 remaining, and the Knights were in free-throw mode the rest of the way.
Damian Chong Qui led the Mountaineers with 18 points and Brandon Leftwich added a career-high 16. Leftwich, a redshirt junior, was recognized before the game in a Senior Day ceremony — he’s the Mount’s official lone veteran, having joined the program as a walk-on in 2017.
Leftwich made his first career start Saturday, and Engelstad said the Mountaineers did their best to feed off his energy.
“It’s about us playing with heart. I just think that’s the biggest issue,” said Chong Qui, a sophomore. “We have been consistently bringing that for 40 minutes, so I don’t believe we’re tired. We’re not completely motivated from top to bottom. We have to address things and we have to set things straight, and we have to be better.”
Sophomore forward Nana Opoku and fellow sophomore Jefferson finished 10 with points apiece, and Chong Qui handed out four assists. Fairleigh Dickinson out-rebounded the Mount 36-28, however, and led by as many as 12 points midway through the second half.
It’s about regrouping from here, Engelstad and his players said following the loss. Sacred Heart beat the Mount 58-53 on Jan. 30, the only time the rivals met this season. The Mountaineers have but two wins since then despite gearing up for the playoffs.
“I don’t think a lot of people think we belong,” Leftwich said. “I know Sacred Heart definitely doesn’t think we belong. I think we need to prove to the league that we belong.”