The Big Red had five players score in double figures but Mount St. Joseph's Alex Cole drilled a 3-point basket from the right corner with 25 seconds left and that would be enough to lead the Lions to a 73-72 victory over Denison from Livingston Gymnasium.

Mount St. Joseph got off to a scintillating start, by going 9-for-9 and 5-for-5 from 3-point range in the opening eight minutes of the game.  That pushed their lead out to 24-10 and put the Big Red behind the eight ball early.

Denison didn't panic and by the 2:18 mark of the first half they took their first lead since the opening minutes at 29-28 after a steal and a lay-up by Alex Longi (Cincinnati, Ohio/St. Xavier).  A 3-pointer by MSJ's Matt Wester with four seconds left would put the Lions back on top, 34-33 heading into the intermission.

In the second half the lead would change hands 14 times and there would be eight, tie-game situations. With 6:35 to play a pair of free throws by Denison's Jim Leffew (Vero Beach, Fla./Vero Beach) gave his team a 5-point lead, but the Lions would answer on their next trip down the floor with a David Lane 3-pointer.  After a turnover by DU was parlayed into a layup at the other end by Jeremy Wessels, Mount St. Joe had successfully erased that five point Denison lead in less than a minute.

Fast-forward to 1:38 remaining, DU committed their 17th turnover of the night when David Lane stepped in front of a Denison pass and found David Mann on a fast break lay-up with 1:33 to play, giving MSJ a 3-point lead.  DU would regroup and with the shot clock winding down, junior Mike Garabedian (LaGrange, Ill./Nazareth Academy) connected on an off-balance 3-pointer to tie the game at 70-70 with 56 seconds left.

Following a timeout by the Lions with 42 seconds left, they would proceed to run 17 seconds off the shot clock before Cole nailed his only 3-pointer of the contest with 25 ticks left on the clock.

DU would take a timeout and Leffew's potential tying 3-pointer was off the mark.  Dimonde Hale (Columbus, Ohio/Northland) snagged the offensive rebound and scored on a put-back with 1.7 seconds left but still left DU trailing by one at 73-72.  The Big Red tried to foul on the ensuing in-bounds play but Lane took the pass and immediately threw the ball into the air, allowing time to expire before Denison could send them to the free throw line.

MSJ was led by Ben Haarman who scored 23 points while adding seven assists.  Wessels came off the bench to score 15 points and Mann ended with 12.  The Big Red got a strong outing from Hale who scored 17 points off an 8-of-12 shooting day.  He also added five rebounds in 27 minutes.  Longi and Marr Mansfield (Westerville, Ohio/Westerville Central) both scored 12 points and Leffew and Garabedian chipped in 11 points each.  Garabedian also led all players with 11 rebounds and four steals in his 36 minutes of action.

The Lions shot 50 percent from the field (27-for-54) and were 9-of-22 (.409) from long-range.  Denison hit 46 percent of their field goals but struggled from deep, going just 5-of-18 from beyond the arc.  MSJ also won the battle of the boards, 32-29 but committed 20 turnovers to Denison's 17.

Denison (4-6) will return to the hardwood on Dec. 28 when they take on Buena Vista (Iowa) at the Land of Magic Classic in Daytona Beach, Fla.