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Dayton, OH -- Jeremy Goode (Charlotte, N.C./Providence Day) scored 21 points to lead Mount St. Mary’s past Coppin State 69-60 in the NCAA Division I Tournament Opening Round Game on Tuesday. With the win, the Mount will advance to the East Regional to play top-ranked North Carolina on Friday.
“It seemed like the first 15 minutes got caught up in the moment of being in the NCAA Tournament,” said fifth-year head coach Milan Brown. “I told the guys that we were going to win this game on the defensive end, and we played hard and boned up on defense in the second half. We are really excited to be moving on in the tournament.”
Goode shot 5-for-10 from the floor, 2 of 5 from behind the arc and 9 of 11 from the free throw line, including four-straight charity tosses at the end of the game to seal the Mountaineers (19-14) first NCAA Tournament win in program history. The squad also made the NCAA Division I Tournament in 1995 and 1999.
Chris Vann (Woodbridge, Va./Gar-Field) posted 13 points, including his 1,000th point with 19:22 remaining in the second half. Shawn Atupem (Newport News, Va./Woodside) posted 10 points while Kelly Beidler (Virginia Beach, Va./Tallwood) registered seven points and a career-high 15 rebounds off the bench.
Tywain McKee paced the Eagles (16-21) with 15 points while Antwan Harrison recorded 14 points and Mike Miller chipped in 11 points in the loss.
Mount St. Mary’s had a slow start in its first NCAA Division I tournament appearance since 1999, but the Mount started clicking at the end of the first half and gained the advantage it would not relinquish midway through the second stanza to go on for the victory.
After McKee capped a 7-0 run with a 3-pointer at 13:22 to hand the Eagles a 47-44 edge, the Mount rolled off the next nine points to take a 53-47 lead. Goode started the run with a traditional 3-point play at 13:02 before Atupem recorded the next four points to give the Mountaineers the lead for good at 11:53. Markus Mitchell (Virginia Beach, Va./Salem) capped the 9-0 run with a layup at 9:19.
McKee helped Coppin State chip away at the deficit and cut the margin to 57-55 on jumper with 6:55 on the clock. The Eagles then missed its next eight field goal attempts and Mount St. Mary’s scored seven unanswered points to grab a 64-55 lead with 1:25 remaining.
Harrison hit a jumper and Julian Conyers nailed a trey to bring the Eagles back within four points at 64-60 with 54 seconds left, but Goode and Jean Cajou (Fairfax, Va./Paul VI) combined to hit four of the final five charity tosses to seal the victory.
Despite Coppin State scoring the first three baskets of the game and grabbing a nine-point advantage in the final six minutes of the first half, Mount St. Mary’s went into the locker room only trailing by a point.
With the score 23-20, the Eagles rolled off six unanswered points on a Harrison layup and dunks by Robert Pressey and A’Daeron Duncan to grab a 29-20 advantage with 5:11 left in the stanza.
The Mount then closed the first half on a 13-5 run to cut the margin to 34-33 at halftime. Cajou started the run by converting two free throws at 3:59 before Miller scored in the paint. Atupem drilled home a dunk on an offensive rebound before Vann scored on a layup at the 2:35 mark to cut the deficit to three points.
After McKee answered with a jumper, Atupem registered a basket with 1:45 left. Pressey converted the backend of two free throws before Vann nailed a trey with 45 seconds remaining trim the margin to 34-33.
The Mountaineers came out of halftime to score the first five points to take its first lead of the game on a Will Holland (Houston, Tex./Lamar) 3-pointer and Vann’s 3-point play with 19:22 for a 39-34 advantage. Coppin State came back to take a 47-44 advantage, but the Mount closed the game on a 25-13 win to secure the win.
Mount St. Mary’s converted 26 of its 32 free throws in the contest. Cajou, the Northeast Conference Tournament Most Valuable Player, recorded eight points against the Eagles including connecting on 6 of 8 from the foul line.
The Mount improved to 4-0 against Coppin State, but Tuesday’s meeting marked the first matchup since the Mount switched to Division I.
Mount St. Mary’s will face top-seeded North Carolina in the first round of the East Regional on Friday in Raleigh, N.C. Game time is 7:10 p.m.
Post-Game Quotes
Head Coach - Milan Brown
Opening Statement
"We're very excited that we were able to pull off the victory. I thought our guys played really hard, and I'm really proud of them being able to stick with our game plan. I thought we would come out a little bit rusty since we hadn't played a game in six days. I knew as the game kept wearing on, if we just kept defending, we would be okay."
On only being down at half by one after a slow start
Jeremy Goode
"That was the first time being down at halftime and winning the game, so we try to focus more on defense, not that we had a lack of concentration or anything in the first half, but I believe they shot maybe 53% in the first half, and we tried to cut down on that because we knew we were a better defensive team than that. They only shot 16% from the three-point line in the first half at the same time, at halftime, we knew we had to focus a little bit more and concentrate a little bit more."
On how it felt tonight to play in the NCAA tournament
Chris Vann
"We definitely felt we were at the tournament. We're still overwhelmed that we are in the game. It was a surprise to me. I've been watching this game on TV for years, and it surprised me how many people actually showed up to the game. It is a big game. It was good."
Jeremy Goode
"Personally, I was asked that question this morning. I don't really get nervous. It is more of me being anxious to get to the game, and once I get to the game, that immediately goes away."
Kelly Beidler
"Basically, to me, I feel blessed to have this opportunity to play in this tournament with my teammates, also my coaches. For us, we were able to show the world what Mount basketball was about, and we did, I think, a pretty good job of doing that."
On pulling down the final rebound for a career-high of 15
Kelly Beidler
"It was just relief that we punched that 9 to 5 and to know that we did our job successfully and we got the win. It just felt good to say we actually won an NCAA tournament game."
What changed defensively in the post after the first few minutes?
Kelly Beidler
"In the timeouts, our coach told us we needed to buckle down and start scrapping and do what we do. Once we got our heads together and relaxed, everything came together. It took a couple of minutes, but we answered the problem. We came back and attacked them and put them on their heels. We got the victory."
On playing North Carolina after growing up as a fan
Jeremy Goode
"Yeah, I grew up a Carolina fan. I guess it means a lot to play against them because you watch them growing up and then you step on the court against them, it's like 'whoa'. I envisioned myself playing for you as a kid. To play against them now, it means a lot."
On the student support in the Arena
Chris Vann
"Although it was a neutral site, our fans will drive anywhere to come see us play. That's why they are called the 'Mount Maniacs'. They follow us wherever they go. It felt like a home game at times. Even when we stepped into the gym, they were just loud. It was almost like the sixth man on the court for us. It was big, and we'll need them at Carolina as well."
On the meaning of this game given recent campus events
Chris Vann
"One of the students from our campus passed away, the night we actually won the conference championship. So, to keep doing something that is great and something that hasn't been done in a while and keeping the students happy and keeping the university officials happy is something to take your mind off of someone passing away. I think its great for our student body, our university definitely needs it."
On defensive adjustments in the second half
Jeremy Goode
"They got a lot of loose balls, and a lot of steals that we had we just couldn't come up with it. They got dunks out of it and easy lay ups. The one thing we knew in the first half, McKee didn't shoot as much as he normally does, so we knew if anything we would have to focus more on him and shut down his penetration and the shots that he normally takes and make it harder for him. When they tried to go the isolation play that they have, coach threw a zone defense in on them to switch it up because they never had seen it before. I guess that put them back on their heels, because when they saw it, they were confused and bothered by it."
On how it will feel to play in the next game
Jeremy Goode
"First, I want to say that me and Chris, when we were in the hotel room, we were watching ESPN, and this guy, he was saying how this game shouldn't even be played, and neither team, Skip Bayless, I believe that's his name, neither team deserved to be in this tournament. It kind of like got us ready to play basketball, because both teams knew what was at stake, and both of us won our conference championship so we really felt like we deserved to be in it. There were teams that didn't win their conference tournaments and got in, at the same, I just feel like we were supposed to be here, the real tournament, not having to play in. Once it says automatic bid, it's not automatic if you are playing in the play in."
Head Coach - Milan Brown
On weathering the storm in the first half
"I think we did a really good job just trying to stay focused and relaxed in a tense situation as possible. We had a little bit of experience throughout the year in playing in games that can get ugly at times and not a lot of baskets made, with the environment of the game played in that fashion where we have to rely on our defense, we are going to be in a pretty good situation."
On your thoughts in the last 20 seconds
"I was just really excited for our guys to have the opportunity to play in the NCAA tournament and then us capitalize on that opportunity. I was excited for our fans who showed up here today, and our fans that weren't able to attend. I was excited for our league. We play in a pretty tough league, and as much as our non-conference did, our league got us prepared for this game as well. We're a small conference, but nobody in our league has any back down. When it comes down to fight, we do that every night in the NEC. I was just really excited, mostly for the guys, and proud."
Game plan on McKee
"Don't let him beat us. We wanted to make him take tough shots. We knew he was going to take a lot of shots, but we just wanted to make sure they were contested and threw different bodies at him. That was pretty much the whole game plan. You saw what he was able to do in the last two tournament games in the MEAC. Basically, I told the guys last night, that's not going to happen tonight, and if it does, then we're going home. So, I feel the guys did a really good job on him because he's so talented. Sometimes it took two guys, three guys to take him and, he kept pushing at us. We just wanted to bother him. Going back to the NEC and our league, we have played three or four games because guys in our league are similar to him and, in fact, average more points. If you let that guy beat you, then you are going to lose. Again, the experience of playing a Robert Morris, or FDU, or Quinnipiac that has really dominating players helped us here tonight."
Importance to program on 1st NCAA tournament win
"It's huge, just for the simple fact, that's the way we looked at it. We talked about it Wednesday night after we won the championship. I just wanted to get their minds prepared for whatever because I played in this type of this situation before and there was no play-in game when I played. So, because of all the talk, sometimes you can feel a little bit slighted but I wanted to make sure our guys got that off their brain as much as possible. It was an opportunity for us to win an NCAA tournament game. This is an opportunity for us to at least play two games. So, we tried to spin it in a positive direction. I joked with the guys before the game. I said, 'I know you watched the TV and heard some things about the play-in game, when you go out for your first warm-up and you come back in here, somebody tap me and tell me you don't feel like you are in the NCAA tournament.' Nobody tapped me. It's big, and hopefully we can build off of this, because we're a young basketball team, and understand that the hard work we put in has paid off."
When do you start thinking about North Carolina?
"The guys will enjoy tonight. My staff will start thinking about it now. We already have some film broken down. We were just confident we would have an opportunity to continue to play, and we wanted to make sure we were prepared for the situation and that's what we need to do as a staff. The players just focused on today. If you don't win on Tuesday, you don't play on Friday. As a staff, I wanted us to prepare to be a half a step ahead. Coach Dunlap has already looked at tape for the past two days. We're just trying to forecast as much as possible. I'll start tonight, for sure."
On the importance of Kelly Beidler off the bench
"We relied on our bench a lot this year. In a game like this one, for Kelly to step up, I teased him that he looked like Ben Wallace with all those rebounds. He was really big for us. Most of the time you look at guys stepping up in the points category. He made his free throws. He rebounded the basketball. We needed somebody to do that because our post players were in foul trouble. He gave us big energy tonight. He's a guy that is athletic enough that can play multiple positions. Tonight, he went from actually playing the five spot to guarding the center to sometimes guarding McKee. So, he went up and down their roster guarding people. Those 15 rebounds were huge and the time that he got them…that offensive rebound and then going to the free throw line was huge for us. March is not about making shots, it's about making plays. And he made plays tonight."