Don’t look now, but Mount St. Mary’s could be on a timely roll heading to AC

Arlandus Keyes (2) is helping shoot Mount St. Mary’s back toward top of MAAC standings as Mountaineers gear up for conference title defense. (Photo by Mount St. Mary’s Athletics) 

NEW ROCHELLE, N.Y. — Last season, Mount St. Mary’s languished in the middle of the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference pack before a timely surge in February and March led to eight wins in its final 11 regular-season games.

The Mountaineers would then power through the MAAC tournament, taking out three of the top four seeds before a win in the First Four for the conference’s first major postseason tournament win since Saint Peter’s Cinderella run to a regional final in 2022.

Like many other mid-major programs, a majority of The Mount’s roster was ravaged by the transfer portal, forcing somewhat of a fresh start and a longer adjustment period. But now sitting 7-8 in league play, head coach Donny Lind believes it may just be starting to come together at an opportune time for the reigning MAAC champion.

“We’ve got a really good team,” he said after Saturday’s win at Iona, a rematch of last year’s conference title showdown. “We’ve got really good people. We dealt with a lot of injuries and a lot of different lineups early in the year, but I think guys are starting to figure out how their best strengths fit in with the other guys. When that happens, guys can play really free and not worry about their rotations and their minutes, and just give us what they’ve got. Hopefully we’re starting to come together even more.”

Lind, a former Shaka Smart assistant now in his second season at the helm in Emmitsburg, has injected some of the core VCU personality into his program. No further was that evident than in the second half against Iona, where Arlandus Keyes and Abdou Khadre Kebe hustled for loose balls and embodied the relentlessness that far too often gets taken for granted in northern Maryland.

“That’s who we have to be,” Lind said of the boundless energy. “We’ve got guys that are that way, but a lot of times, it’s not always cool to dive for a loose ball, it’s not always cool to scrape your knees and get cut up. When our guys are willing to do that, it just shows how much you care about your team. That fires me up when guys are willing to sacrifice their bodies, sacrifice their minutes, sacrifice their shots for their teammates.”

“Arlandus had one first, and then AK had one that reminded me of Briante Weber when we were at VCU. They tried to roll it, and he came in, just dove and took it. That sort of effort is what it takes to go on the road and win close games.”

A deceptively lethal senior shooter, Keyes has helped fill the void left by Carmelo Pacheco in The Mount’s backcourt. The St. Louis-area native had a coming-out party in last year’s MAAC tournament, when he scored 38 points and made nine three-pointers en route to a conference championship. This year has yielded more of the same for a Mountaineer team that prefers an inside-out approach with Trey Deveaux, Luke McEldon and Justin Amadi kicking out to the likes of Keyes and Xavier Lipscomb to anchor the backcourt.

“He’s a really good player, he’s a really good shooter,” Lind said of Keyes. “He’s really hard on himself, he holds himself to a really high standard for his game, and he’s starting to reap some of the benefits of all that hard work he’s put in.”

However, it is Kebe who should be generating more attention. Now fully recovered from a broken wrist suffered just before the season, the 6-foot-7 sophomore from Senegal is making a claim to be one of the best players in the conference.

“He’s earned what he’s gotten,” Lind remarked. “He’s just grown in his confidence and his understanding of what he’s asked to do, and he’s a rare guy in today’s day and age. He’s not concerned with how many points he scores, he truly isn’t. He understands that he provides so much value doing the other things that if he does those, I’ll never take him off the floor. And if he does those things, then he’ll score inevitably because he’s a good player and he’s talented, and he plays really hard. The ball rewards guys like that.”

“He really defends. He just changes the opponent’s game plan, and that is special. At 6-foot-7, he can guard one through four, sometimes one through five depending on what the five man is like, and he brings an energy and a defensive intensity, and an ability to rebound the ball that is really unique. If he’s making shots, he’s damn near an NBA player at his size and athleticism, but he’s got a lot of growing to do to continue to develop. But he’s playing with a ton of confidence right now, and he’s earned that.”

Iona head coach Dan Geriot, who watched Kebe pull down 16 rebounds as The Mount wrapped up a season sweep of the Gaels, concurred.

“He shows off his versatility, man,” Geriot said, tipping his cap. “That guy can make a gym electric and make a gym silent.”

Mount St. Mary’s has five games remaining, and a favorable schedule with Rider, Niagara and Canisius — the MAAC’s bottom three teams — next up before closing the regular season at Sacred Heart and Fairfield. A late run to a first-round bye in Atlantic City could once again be in the cards for The Mount, but regardless of how the hand is dealt, the coach at the table is confident in walking away with a payout.

“I’m super encouraged,” Lind said. “Regardless of who we play, I’m encouraged. I think we’re getting better. We didn’t play very well for 10 minutes at the beginning of the second half against Merrimack (February 5), we played some of our worst basketball of the season. It’s gonna happen from time to time. I was really proud of how we responded. We could have dropped that game at home and gone in the tank. A lot of teams do, and we didn’t. We responded and said, ‘hey, it’s one game.’ Our focus and our energy told me that we were gonna be just fine.”