Steve Morano
MSMU Class of 2024
(4/2025) On March 15, Mount St. Mary’s men’s basketball marched to their first ever Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference title in Atlantic City, New Jersy while steamrolling Iona by a score of 63-49. Their victory in the conference title game was followed up by an 83-72 win over American in the Men’s NCAA Basketball Tournament First Four on March 19, booking their spot in the First Round of the tournament for the first time since 2017, where they will play No.1 seed Duke on March 21. A matchup with one of the best teams in college basketball history and projected NBA number one overall pick, Cooper Flagg, comes off the back of a record setting season in Emmitsburg for first year head coach Donny Lind and his team, going 23-12 with a MAAC record of 12-8. This twenty-three-win season gives Lind the winningest record as a Head Coach of the Mount in the school’s Division I era.
The magical season started with a 93-89 overtime victory away in Lewisburg, as the Mountaineers downed perennial Patriot League powerhouse, Bucknell. They then marched to out of conference wins against Saint Francis, Delaware State, and Howard before losing their opening MAAC game to Marist in Poughkeepsie by a score of 53-50. They set the tone in their conference home opener against Fairfield however, beating the stags by a staggering scoreline 101-94, the team’s biggest point margin in Division I.
In a soul crushing 77-69 loss at Knott Arena in the Catholic Clash against Loyola, the Mount eked out an 80-72 win against LIU and upset the University of Miami in an overtime 78-74 win in Florida. With the win against the Hurricanes, the Mountaineers also secured their first win against a Power Five school since their win against Georgia Tech in 1995. After a loss to George Mason on December 28, the Mount when on a three-game run, winning against Niagara and Manhattan by scorelines of 68-62 and 75-66 respectively. Returning home to Emmitsburg on January 12 to face off against Sacred Heart, the Mount found themselves up marginally against the Pioneers at the half by a score of 41-32. The team stayed steady with Sacred Heart but soon found themselves outpaced by the visitors, as Sacred Heart tied the game 71-71 with ten seconds left. The ball found itself to senior forward Dola Adebayo in the paint, and as the shot clock was
about expire, Adebayo step back and put a floater into the basket, sending Knott Arena into pandemonium.
After the 73-71 buzzer beater against Sacred Heart, the Mount dropped its next four games to Rider, Siena, Manhattan and a 91-57 loss to Quinnipiac, the worst blowout in Knott Arena history. The team then travelled to North Andover, Massachusetts, where they downed Merrimack 66-58. The team stayed on the road, travelling to New Jersey while defeating Saint Peter’s 79-64 while losing their next game to Iona 70-64, after the Gaels hit a buzzer beating, three-pointer to avoid overtime in Emmitsburg.
Motivated by their close loss to Iona, the Mount went on another prolonged win streak, notching victories against Niagara, Canisius, Saint Peter’s and Rider, with their win streak coming to an end in Fairfield, Connecticut after the Mountaineers lost a close contest to the Stags by a score of 69-62. From then on, the Mount alternated wins with loses, beating Siena 85-79, losing away at Quinnipiac by a score of 79-70, and winning on Senior Day in Emmitsburg 62-52 against Marist before their trip to the Conference Tournament in Atlantic City.
In their final weeks of the season, the Mountaineers were hit with a plethora of injuries to key players including Terrell Ard jr., who tore his Achillies Tendon at Fairfield, and Carmelo Pacheco, who broke his finger in the game against Marist. The injuries coupled with the doubt of being ranked 11th in the preseason polls by other coaches gave the Mountaineers a fire under their belly that could not be contained. With their win against Marist, the Mountaineers bought themselves a bye to the quarterfinals with a matchup against the Red Foxes in Atlantic City scheduled before the visitors left the arena on March 8.
To start their tenure at MAAC’s, the men’s team took a commanding 27-19 lead against the Red Foxes with dominance in the paint from Adebayo and Jedy Cordilia. Even after a wavering lead change by Marist, the Mountaineers recomposed their offense and closed out a 62-58 win and a trip to the semifinals for the rubber match against Merrimack.
Against the Warriors in the semifinals, the Mountaineers were uneasy to start the scoring through the first five minutes, holding Merrimack to 16-12 deficit through the first ten minutes. But for the rest of the half, the offense clawed its way back to take a one point, 25-24, lead heading into the half. And as score alternated in the second half, the Mountaineers began to pull away and squeezed out a 57-55 score, booking their first ever appearance in the MAAC Championship game.
The No. 4 seed Iona had defeated the No. 1 seed Quinnipiac men’s team, who had become dominant in the regular season and who folded in the playoffs. The No. 6 seed Mountaineers came into the game with a three-game win streak extending from the regular season and into the playoffs. With full steam behind them, the Mount found themselves down 26-25 at the half and coming back from the locker room, decided to put all the energy they had left onto the court. Outpacing the Gael’s with swift transition, long range, and three-point shooting, the Mountaineers finished their game with a scoreline of 63-49, not only winning their first championship since 2021, but winning the school’s first ever MAAC title since moving to the conference in 2022.
In the first four game against American, the Mount started off the scoring early, taking a ten-point, 48-38 lead in the first half. A closer fought quarter from American in the second was no match for the consistent Mountaineers as Adebayo and Cordilla once again had career games inside the paint to finish the game off at 83-72, booking their spot in the tournament proper, with a matchup against Duke awaiting in the first round.
No matter what the result of the first-round matchup will be, the team fielded by the Mount this season has been nothing but spectacular. This team was picked to finish eleventh in the conference and miss out completely on the Conference Playoffs. And why shouldn’t they have? Bringing in first year Head Coach Donny Lind and retaining a roster that looked practically identical to the one that went out in the first round of the Conference Playoffs last year seemed like a recipe for a under .500 finish. But, through sheer will power and sticking to their defense-heavy playbook, the Mount won at the right times and are now on a collision course with history. No matter what the finish against Duke will be, this shift in momentum may secure the Mount’s men’s basketball team its supremacy in the Conference, like the days of old Emmitsburg.
