Harrisburg, PA -- The Mount Aloysius Men's Basketball Team opened up their season over the weekend, as they played two games in the Penn State Harrisburg Tip-Off Tournament. They were matched up with tournament champion, Widener, on Saturday. They finished the weekend in the consolation game against Marywood.

Game 1
The opening round saw the Mounties take on eventual tournament champion, Widener.

Mount Aloysius got out to a hot start, getting ahead 8-2, before Widener would close the deficit. Both teams would fall on hard times, as they were tied 19-19 with roughly eight minutes remaining in the half. The Pride would go on a 14-5 run in the final 7:47 to take the lead into the half at 33-24.

In the second half, the Mounties were held off by the Pride. They were able to cut the lead to six, following a Nate Christian (Accokeek,MD, Surratsville) three pointer, and a Julian Stover (Washington, DC, Richard Montgomery) free throw. That is as close as they would get. Widener was able to push the lead to 22 with 4:22 remaining, before Mount Aloysius would cut it back to the final score of 70-57. 

Christian led the Mounties with 21 points, while senior Trent McErlane (Greenville, PA, Greenville) added 10. Widener outshot Mount Aloysius from the free-throw line, going 24-29 for the game, while the Mounties were 8-14 from the stripe.

Game 2
The consolation game against Marywood saw the Mounties get back on track. They had four players reach double-figures in scoring and produced a 41-point second half to get the win.

During the first half, the Pacers never trailed, as they got out to an early lead. Mount Aloysius was able to tie the game at five before Marywood produced an eight-point lead. The game would again be tied at 20, but the Pacers would again take the lead, as they went to the locker room ahead, 26-22.

Mount Aloysius got their first lead of the game thanks to an Azim Hutson (Orlando, FL, Ocoee) three pointer, which put them ahead 31-28, just under two minutes into the second half. Hutson and Stover would provide a major shot in the arm for the Mounties, as they scored 27 combined points in the second half.

Marywood would come back to take a lead, but they could only extend it to three points. Mount Aloysius would take the lead for good on two made free throws from Stover, with 7:49 remaining. Including the free throws, Stover and Hutson would score 13 of the final 19 Mountie points, to finish off the Pacers, 63-56.

Stover finished with a game-high 19 points, including a stellar 9-10 performance at the line. Christian added 13 points and eight rebounds. His performance over the weekend earned him a spot on the All-Tournament team. McErlane turned in 12 points on 4-8 shooting from behind the arc. Hutson added ten points, all of which came in the second half.

The win moved the Mounties to 1-1 on the season. They will get back on the road next weekend, at Lebanon Valley, in the annual Rinso Marquette Tournament. They open up the weekend on Friday, when they play FDU-Florham, at 6:00 PM.