Mount St. Mary's beats American in First Four, to face Duke - ESPN

DAYTON, Ohio — When Mount St. Mary's guard Xavier Lipscomb hit a 3-pointer before anyone could blink, everyone sensed Wednesday night's game would be a bit different.

The Mountaineers had won the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference tournament without eclipsing 63 points. They had reached 80 points only twice in 2025. Defense had propelled the Mount down the stretch, as it held opponents to 65.1 points during an 11-3 finish.

But Wednesday's First Four matchup against American carried a different pace. The teams combined for 25 points in the first 4:05 and 40 in the first 8:09.

«I love offense. I would prefer to play this way,» coach Donny Lind said. «I would rather win 83-73 than 53-43. I was just a little worried that with all the injuries we had and the lack of depth, [whether] we've got enough firepower to make it through.»

Mount St. Mary's had more than enough in an 83-72 win over American. The Mountaineers, who won a tournament game at UD Arena for the third time in their history, advanced in the East Region, where they will face No. 1 seed Duke on Friday in Raleigh, North Carolina.

Lind's suspicions about depth proved true, as Mount St. Mary's had only seven players score Wednesday. But three of them — forwards Dola Adebayo and Jedy Cordilia, and guard Dallas Hobbs — combined for 61 points. Cordilia made 10 of 11 shot attempts and grabbed seven rebounds, while Adebayo rocked the rim several times as the Mountaineers capitalized on an American team that lost star forward Matt Rogers to a right knee injury late in the first half.

Mount St. Mary's became the third MAAC team to have three players score 17 points or more in an NCAA tournament game, joining Iona in 2017 and Manhattan in 1993.

«In the MAAC, most of our