Mount St. Mary’s holds off American, earns matchup with Duke

DAYTON, Ohio — Dola Adebayo and Jedy Cordilia each scored 22 points to help Mount St. Mary’s hold off American 83-72 on Wednesday night in a First Four victory.

Dallas Hobbs added 17 for the Mountaineers (23-12), who advance as a No. 16 seed to play top-seeded Duke in a first-round East Region contest Friday in Raleigh, N.C.

Geoff Sprouse had 18 points while Elijah Stephens added 12 for American (22-13), which saw its four-game win streak come to an end. The Eagles lost leading scorer Matt Rogers to a first-half knee injury.

Cordilia had 16 points on 8-of-9 shooting in the first half for Mount St. Mary’s and finished the game 10 of 11 from the floor. Hobbs, had 15 first-half points, including a buzzer-beating three that capped a 9-2 Mount St. Mary’s run for a 48-38 lead at halftime.

Mount St. Mary’s appeared to put the game away with a string of seven straight made baskets, including a pair of thunderous dunks from Dola Adebayo that stretched the lead to 79-60 with 6:03 remaining.

A 9-0 American spurt got American within 81-73 with 3:20 remaining before American head coach Duane Simpkins was called for a technical with 2:29 remaining. American never scored again.

Both teams displayed sharp-shooting skills, with Mount St. Mary’s making 30 of their first 48 shots and finished 57.7 percent from the floor, while American was at 47.4 percent.

Rogers went down multiple times in the first half then collided with Cordilia with 5:28 left before halftime. Rogers, with his right knee already in a sleeve, needed assistance getting off the court and was unable to return.

Rogers, who led American at 17.0 points per game, returned to the bench in the second half on crutches.

After back-to-back 3-pointers from Greg Jones and Matt Mayock drew American within 56-51 with 15:11 left, the Mountaineers answered with a 12-0 spurt that featured 3-pointers from Arlandus Keyes and Malcolm Dread.