Gophers Fall by 2 Pts. to Mounties in Opening Round

SALEM, Va. — Goucher's opening-round game against Mt. Aloysius in the Thanksgiving Weekend Tournament came down to the wire, as one might expect from a contest that featured nine ties and a dozen lead changes.

Once Tre Brown converted a pair of free throws to put Mt. Aloysius up 77-74, head coach Tom Rose's squad had only three seconds to come up with three points to force overtime or four points to pull out the win. That became an even more difficult task when the Mounties put Mychal Stefanides (Bel Air, Md./C. Milton Wright) at the free-throw line to shoot two with just :00.8 showing on the game clock.

The freshman guard drilled the first foul shot and missed the second, but the final horn sounded before an attempt by Tucker Canary (Silver Spring, Md./Montgomery Blair) at a tip-in, ending the contest in favor of Mt. Aloysius, 77-75.

The Gophers (2-3) trailed the Mounties, 33-31, at the end of the first half and their deficit grew to as high as seven points in the second period until they mounted a comeback. A four-point play by Kevin Miles (District Heights, Md./Gwynn Park) tied the score at 44 a piece with 15:19 left to play.

Goucher took its first lead of the second half when Norman Allen II (Bowie, Md./Riverdale Baptist) nailed a 3-pointer with just under 14 minutes remaining.

From the 11:02 mark when the Mounties (3-1) went back in front on a Jourdan Lamberth layup until a layup by Allen provided the Gophers with a 59-58 advantage, the lead changed hands no fewer than six times.

After continuous back-and-forth play, Goucher assumed a four-point cushion as Troy DeShields (Seaford, Del./Sussex Technical) hit a jumper — created from an offensive rebound by Jesse Mondry (Medford, Ore./South Medford) — with 6:06 on the clock.

At the 4:22 mark, Canary tied the game at 68-68 by sinking his third 3-point shot. Moments later, Miles gave the Gophers a 71-68 lead with his fourth make beyond the arc.

Arin Wade led all scorers as he contributed 20 points to the victory.

For the Gophers, Miles knocked down 19 points in his 39 minutes of action, while DeShields, who suited up for the first time in 2015-16, chipped in with 15 points.

The two-point setback places Goucher in the tournament's consolation against Penn State-New Kensington that will be played at noon tomorrow.