EMMITSBURG -- With the jockeying for seeding in the Northeast Conference tournament well underway, Mount St. Mary's moved to a better seat last night.
In a matchup the Mountaineers needed badly to win, they made all the clutch plays down the stretch and outlasted Monmouth, 88-81, before 2,085 at Knott Arena.
"Every game is important to us, but this one was a must-win," said Mount St. Mary's super-sub Michael Watson, whose 19 points in 21 minutes included the final go-ahead basket.
"At times this team is like Jekyll and Hyde and you never know which one is going to show up."
Mount St. Mary's (12-11, 10-5) prevented the Hawks from leapfrogging into fourth place and probably will secure at least one home-court tournament game with one win in its final three regular-season outings.
The Hawks didn't make it easy after wiping out virtually all of a 13-point Mountaineers lead in the first half.
There were 16 lead changes and five ties in the second half and neither team was ahead by more than five points before a technical foul against Monmouth's Mustafa Barksdale.
Chris McGuthrie, who scored 32 points, missed the two technical free throws but point guard Riley Inge swished a three-pointer and then scored on a fast break after a Hawks turnover.
That produced the final tie. John Giraldo's free throw put Monmouth (10-12, 8-6) ahead 80-79 with 4:22 to play, but the Hawks' shooting then turned sour.
Watson's basket on a feed from McGuthrie, Watson's block of Giraldo's driving attempt and the ensuing three-pointer by Inge put the Mountaineers in command.
Inge spent most of the game getting the ball inside to 7-foot Randy Edney and setting up McGuthrie.
"When Edney plays as well as he did tonight, you tend to go in there a lot," said Inge. "But now I feel a whole lot better about taking the outside shots myself."
McGuthrie nailed down the decision with three free throws as the Mount rebounded from an unexpected NEC loss, 93-81, to Wagner at home two nights earlier. It was particularly satisfying for Mount St. Mary's considering the outcome of its first meeting with Monmouth in New Jersey. The Mount hit only one of 14
three-point tries in that game and scored 17 first-half points en route to a 72-55 loss.
Last night, Mount St. Mary's made 56.6 percent from the field and 14 of 22 from three-point range, including eight of 12 by McGuthrie.
"We folded up our tent with about four minutes to go against Wagner. We had a chance to do it again tonight," said coach Jim Phelan.
"That first-half lead dissipated awfully fast. But we converted when it counted in this game."