Marist men’s basketball suffered their largest home loss of the season falling victim to a dominant career-high performance from Mount St. Mary’s guard Dakota Leffew of 34 points.
A rough day at the offensive end for the Red Foxes spelled trouble as Mount St. Mary’s made 11 three-pointers and outrebounded Marist 40-26. Sophomore forward Trace Salton led the Red Foxes in scoring with 11.
“That’s twice we’ve run into Mount St. Mary’s after they’ve gone through multiple losses and they came out both times with a lot of energy and were desperate for wins. They played harder than us,” said head coach John Dunne.
The Mount have lost three straight and their last win came against Marist on January 19 and are winless on the road since December 15. After a tight loss on national television to Niagara, the Red Foxes bounced back with a road win over Canisius to split the road trip last Sunday.
The Mount came out with intense energy in the opening minutes forcing turnovers or highly contested shots. The Red Foxes trailed 8-2 after the first six minutes of play. Freshman guard De’Shayne Montgomery capped off the Mountaineers’ lockdown play with a steal and emphatic dunk over sophomore guard Isaiah Brickner.
Despite the Red Foxes’ slow start on offense, they forced five turnovers to stay within distance. Salton scored five straight to give Marist their first lead of the game.
“We were struggling in the half-court so I took every opportunity and just wanted to run the floor,” said Salton.
Montgomery, again, got out in transition for another left-handed punch at the rim. In a low-scoring start, the Mount led 13-9 with 9:42 left in the first half.
Leffew knocked in a corner three to reach 10 points after the Mount’s seventh offensive rebound. Marist had trouble on the glass leading to eight second chance points for the Mountaineers.
The McCann Arena lit up following a block by sophomore center Max Allen II and an ensuing three-pointer by senior guard Kam Farris to slow the 10-2 Mount run.
Mount St. Mary’s used their pick-and-roll action with Leffew to open up looks via the pass inside or the All-MAAC first-team guard sniped from distance.
“In the first half, we were much more aggressive getting over those screens and he was hitting the rolls. We could have probably trapped him earlier on in the second half,” said Dunne.
A 13-0 run fueled by four straight three-point attempts from the Mount increased the lead to 20 points with a minute left in the half. The first half ended with Mount St. Mary’s leading 41-20; shooting 48 percent from the field and 6-11 from three.
Leffew drained four threes and freshman guard Dallas Hobbes added eight points off the bench. The Mount also dominated on the glass with more offensive rebounds (9) than Marist had defensive (8).
The Red Foxes struggled on all fronts on offense in the first half with 10 turnovers and 31 percent shooting from the field. Marist’s two leading scorers, Allen II and freshman guard Josh Pascarelli combined for four points and six turnovers.
“They extended every all of our catches. They kind of got up and bullied us a little bit on the perimeter. They were playing so hard and physical we couldn’t get [Max] deep touches,” said Dunne.
The Mount started quickly in the second half with a 7-0 run in just over a minute where Leffew eclipsed 20 points with another breakaway dunk.
Marist began to press full court to change the tempo and after a quick 5-0 run Mount St. Mary’s called timeout leading 55-28 with 13:35 left in the game.
“What we did in the second half gave us some good energy,” said Salton.
Right when the Red Foxes began to creep back into the game, Leffew slammed the door lacing a step-back three, drawing a foul in the process.
The Red Foxes continued to up the intensity and cut the deficit to 67-52 after a 15-2 run. Leffew once again stymied the run with a floater in the lane following a Mount timeout.
Leffew reached a season-high 34 points after nailing his seventh three-pointer. Marist went cold offensively scoring only six points in the final four minutes as Mount St. Mary’s swept the season series in two dominant wins.
“I thought today we were stationary, we stood around too much. We need more movement,” said Dunne.
Salton finished with a team-high 11 points off the bench while Farris and Brickner scored 10. Once again, Allen II struggled offensively against the Mount, tonight with four points and 2-7 shooting.
“Sometimes you got to go through these growing pains. Then it’s just how you respond. We’ve been responding well, and we just need to respond well again,” said Dunne.
Marist will look to bounce back with another home contest facing St. Peter’s on Sunday, February 4. Tipoff at McCann Arena is set for 2 p.m.
Edited by: Aidan Lavin
Graphic by: Jaylen Rizzo
For more coverage of Marist athletics, follow @cfmarist on Instagram, X and TikTok, and sign up to receive daily alerts here
