Terrell Ard Jr. scored 18 points and pulled down seven rebounds as visiting Mount St. Mary’s overcame a double-digit halftime deficit and stunned Miami 78-74 in overtime Saturday afternoon.
Carmelo Pacheco poured in 16 points, connecting four times from beyond the arc for the Mountaineers (8-4), who have won two in a row.
Jedy Cordilla scored 11 while Dola Adebayo added 10 points, including a shot with 2:53 to go in the extra session that gave the Mountaineers the lead for good at 72-70. Javon Ervin scored 10 as well.
Matthew Cleveland finished with 19 points for the Hurricanes in defeat. Jalil Bethea added a career-high 17 points while Jalen Blackmon scored 16 for Miami (4-8), which has dropped eight of its last nine.
Bethea attempted a 3-pointer with 16 seconds on the clock, but the open shot was off the mark as Mount St. Mary’s held on and improved to 7-3 against nonconference opponents while winning only their second game in program history against an ACC team.
After Adebayo’s jumper, Xavier Lipscomb split a pair of free throws at the 2:12 mark for a 73-70 lead and Mount St. Mary’s never looked back.
The Mountaineers (8-4) trailed 38-28 at the half but chipped away at the deficit, tying the game at 62-62 with 4:02 left on a 3-pointer by Javon Ervin.
Tied at 66-66 with under a minute left, Blackmon attempted a 3-pointer with seven seconds left for the win. But it was off the mark.
Ard tried to hit a 3-pointer of his own as time expired, but the shot was well off the mark as the game went to OT.
Pacheco drilled two 3-pointers in the first four minutes of the game, including one from the corner that put the Mountaineers up 8-2 at the 16:51 mark.
The Hurricanes finally took their first lead on a deep 3-pointer by Bethea with 10:13 to play that made the score 15-13. Blackmon then extended the advantage to 18-13 with a 3-pointer of his own less than a minute later.
Tied at 18-18 with 8:38 left, the Hurricanes grabbed the momentum by scoring the next 10 points, the run punctuated with Bethea’s catch-and-shoot 3-pointer in the corner to give his team a 28-18 advantage with 7:19 to go in the half.
Turnovers were an issue in the first half as the two teams combined for 20. The Hurricanes cashed in more often, though, scoring 19 points off miscues, with two coming off a steal and dunk by A.J. Staton-McCray that extended the Miami lead to 36-26 with 3:14 to go.
This was only the second ever meeting between the two schools. Miami won 86-83 in the first game on Dec. 8, 1966.
–Field Level Media
