EMITTSBURG, Md. – De'von Barnett scored eight of his game-high 17 in the final 6:00 minutes of the game to help lift the Sacred Heart University men's basketball team to a, 62-55, road victory at Mount St. Mary's on Thursday night. Steve Glowiak and Jordan Allen came off the bench to combine for 26 points on 11-13 shooting, including 17 on a perfect 8-8 in the second half. Allen added 10 rebounds for his first career double double, while Glowiak contributed a game-high four assists. Those three scored 39 of SHU's 44 second half points to help the Pioneers win their third straight Northeast Conference contest and improve to 12-14 and 6-7 in league play. After losing its previous nine in Emittsburg, Sacred Heart has won at the Mount two straight years. Gregory Graves led three Mountaineers with 14 in the loss, which drops MSM to 11-13 and 7-6 in the NEC. 

After Sacred Heart scored the first basket out of the half, Mount St. Mary's scored 12 unanswered to take a game-high nine point lead, 39-30, with 14:10 remaining in the game. Chris Martin scored the final six points, capping the flurry with a three pointer on the possession after he had just converted a three point play. That trifecta would be the only MSM basket for the next 7:45.

Sparked by Barnett, Glowiak, and Allen, SHU answered with an, 18-4, run of its own over the next 7:22, holding the Mount to just four made foul shots. Glowiak and Allen began the surge with a basket each before Graves went 2-2 form the charity stripe. After that, the Pioneers would score seven in a row on two separate occasions, in between two Byron Ashe foul shots, to jump out to at the time was their largest lead.

Glowiak responded to Graves' free throws with a triple before Allen and Barnett each made layups, the latter evening the score at 41 with 9:33 left. Following Ashe's foul shots, it was a Glowiak three point basket in between Allen's two layups that brought the lead to five. The second, with 6:48 on the clock, stretched the Pioneer lead to, 48-43.

On the ensuing trip down, Kristijan Krajin's converted a three-point play to end the run. From there, Barnett scored eight of SHU's final 14 points, including twice answering MSM cutting the lead to two with mid-range jumpers on the next two Pioneer possessions, the second with 5:31 remaining. Ashe's layup 25 seconds later made the score, 52-50, and started a scoreless streak for both teams over the next 2:27.

On an inbound play, Glowiak hit his biggest shot of the game, a deep triple with 2:39 on the clock to stretch the advantage back to five, only to have Graves come back with a layup 17 seconds later. Mount had a chance to tie the game after SHU turned the ball over but the Pioneer defense forced a miss. With Sacred Heart controlling the ball with the shot clock winding down and the ball in Phil Gaetano's hands, the senior was clutch for the second week in a row. His basket went through at the buzzer and after review, he was ruled to have had his feet behind the line to extend Sacred Heart's lead to, 58-52, with just 1:10 left.

Again it was Krajina who sparked the Mountaineers with a dunk just 16 seconds later. SHU then turned the ball over and four seconds later, sent Krajina to the line. He converted 1-2 to cut the lead to, 58-55. Following a Pioneer miss from the line with just 37 seconds remaining, the Mount had an opportunity to tie the game. With just 17 seconds left, this time Glowiak stepped up defensively, drawing a charge on Krajina. Barnett then went to the line for a one and one with a chance to ice the game. The sophomore stepped and made both put the game out of reach.

The Pioneers limited Mount St. Mary's to just 38.5 percent shooting (20-52) from the floor, including 5-18 (27.8 percent) from beyond the arch. The Mountaineers also only went 10-17 (58.8) from the line. In the last meeting, MSM went 12-24 from three point range and 19-20 from the charity stripe. SHU shot 47.3 percent (26-55) for the game, including 6-12 from beyond the arch. The Pioneers only made 4-8 from the line. The game saw a combined 34 turnovers, with Sacred Heart committing two more. The Pioneers held a slight, 35-32, rebounding edge. Krajina and Ashe each scored 12 points for the Mountaineers. No other player on either team scored more than six.

Neither team gained an advantage of more than four points in the first half that saw seven lead changes and three ties. The Mount scored the first four points of the contest after Krajina opened the game with a dunk and Ashe went 2-2 from the line 1:50 in. Each team went on runs of seven unanswered after that, with SHU doing it twice.  The Pioneers came back with the next seven points, led by five straight from Cane Broome and a layup by Tevin Falzon at the 16:53 mark to momentarily take a three point lead. MSM answered right back with seven consecutive of its own, capped when Will Miller hit a trifecta just 1:48 after Falzon's layup.

The Pioneers' next seven sparked a 10-2 flurry to gain its largest first half lead, 17-13. Allen and Barnett converted layups in between a Glowiak triple before Ashe momentarily stopped the run with a layup of his own. Barnett's three point play the ensuing trip down the court put the Pioneers up four with 9:56 remaining.

After Mount scored five straight ending with Charles Glover's three point basket to go ahead, 18-17, with 8:39 left, neither squad led by more than two the remainder of the half. Kelley found Allen wide open for a layup just ten seconds before the buzzer to give SHU the one point advantage at the break, 28-27.

Sacred Heart will put its three game winning streak on the line at first place St. Francis Brooklyn on Saturday afternoon at 4 pm. Winners of five straight and eight of nine, the Terriers have established a two game lead in the Northeast Conference. Their, 83-66, win over Wagner tonight brought their record to 17-9 and 11-2 in league play.