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[Editor’s note: The Mount St. Mary’s men’s basketball team hosted Delaware on Wednesday night in a charity scrimmage with all proceeds, through Catholic Relief Services, going toward Puerto Rico in its recovery efforts from Hurricane Maria.
The Mount eked out an 84-82 overtime win in front of an announced crowd of 1,048. Senior guard Junior Robinson, who finished with game-high 27 points, sank the game-winning free throws with 2.1 seconds left. Below, Ryan Raffensperger from The Mount Fan Blog shared three key takeaways from the exhibition.]
1) Freshmen frenzy: The Mount’s roster has 12 freshmen on it. As a result, they are expected to get better as the season goes on. Many of them are pretty good right now. But there was a marked improvement for several during the game.
Australian wing Jonah Antonio missed his first six three-point attempts. Antonio knocked down six of his next seven and finished with 18 points.
Donald Carey, who will handle the point guard duties, was a little tentative in the first half and rarely looked to penetrate. Carey was more aggressive after the break and had all seven of his points after intermission. Bobby Planutis had all of his eight, including two big ones in overtime.
Antonio, Carey (five assists, three rebounds) and Planutis all started and officially saw their first collegiate in-game experience.
Frosh forwards, Omar Habwe (two points, four rebounds) and Ace Stallings (two points, three rebounds), saw action as well.
2) Junior Robinson might be the frontrunner for Northeast Conference Player of the Year: Junior Robinson deserves more credit for being a great basketball player and not that he’s 5-foot-5. There was nobody in a Hens jersey tonight who could stop him. And Delaware coach Marty Ingelsby went through all his options. Twenty-seven points, eight assists is a great night whether you’re 5-5, 6-5 or 7-5. He also sank the game-winning free throws with 2.1 seconds left.
3) The offense is free-flowing and lethal, even without Elijah Long and Miles Wilson: I was much more impressed with the Mount offense Wednesday than I was for much of last season. It seemed to have more pace, more movement off the ball, and better ball movement throughout. I think Greg Alexander might end up being the beneficiary. The former East Carolina guard, who spent last year as the Mount’s sixth-man, seems poised for a huge senior year. He got it started with a 16-point, seven-rebound effort in this win. The Mount also converted 16 3-pointers on 36 attempts, a solid 38.9 percent from the floor.
The Mount is back in action for its final exhibition on Saturday afternoon at Knott Arena versus Division III Hood College.
