Mounties fall short to Hurricanes on the Island

After a 100-97 loss to the STU Tommies a week ago in ACAA league opener, the Mounties were looking to possibly get a win this past weekend with road games Friday at Holland College and Sunday against Crandall University. It was a crazy weekend to say the least with a 116-103 loss to the host Hurricanes while on Sunday a closely contested battle with the archrival Chargers of Crandall was suspended 4 minutes into the second quarter after it was deemed the floor was unsafe to play on for the remainder of the contest. The score was 31-30 for the Chargers when play was called due to slippery floor conditions a result of very warm outside temperatures and high humidity. A date for the remainder of the game has yet to be determined.

On the Island it was all Holland from the opening quarter as the Hurricanes jumped to a 15-point lead and holding the Mounties to a season low first quarter of only 12 points. By halftime the lead was extended to 58-40 as the Mounties struggled with costly turnovers and could not match the Hurricanes in some deadly outside shooting. In the second half, the Mounties exploded for 66 second half points, including a late fourth quarter push bringing the game back to a 6-point deficit with under 3 to play. With the win, the Hurricanes avenged an earlier exhibition loss to the Mounties 116-108, moved to 3-0 in ACAA play while the Mounties dropped to 0-2. The Hurricanes had 5 players in double figures led by Jalen Menzie with 25 while the Mounties top scorers were Noah McCarthy with 34 points, Emanuel Adugna 23, Minwoo Park 19 and Jonas Munroe 11.

At Crandall on Sunday, a large and enthusiastic crowd turned out for the Chargers home opener. The game saw several lead changes with the Mounties narrowly leading after the first quarter and the Chargers regaining the lead 31-30 at the 6-minute mark of the second when the game had to be called. According to Mounties coach Steve Chapman, "it was really unfortunate to not be able to finish the game. A large crowd was a tight game back and forth as it always is between the two teams and their home opener. It had the makings for a classic ACAA encounter but all the coaches, the officials and the players themselves acknowledged it was getting pretty slick out there and there was no need for either team to risk getting hurt or a season ending injury".

Next up for the Mounties will be this Sunday when they travel to play the University of King's College Blue Devils in a 4:00pm start.

Go Mounties!