DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – Collin Jones was a rebound shy of a double-double to lead the Lebanon Valley men's basketball team in a hard-fought game against fourth-ranked University of Mount Union on Wednesday afternoon at the Ocean Center in Daytona Beach, Florida. The Purple Raiders shot over 60-percent in the second half to pull away for a 78-62 victory in both team's first game at the Florida Sunshine Shootout.
 
The Dutchmen played a strong first half with a great defensive effort that forced the Raiders to make just 29.3 percent of their 41 field goal attempts. The teams battled back and forth over the first five minutes of the half with Mount Union never leading by more than five and LVC evening the score three times. LVC was within one point at 21-20 with eight minutes to go in the half before a 6-0 run gave Mount Union their biggest lead of the half with four to play. The Dutchmen cut into the lead and went into the break down just two points 29-27 following a Luis Garcia jumper with three seconds left.
 
Mount Union came out of the locker room with hot shooting to start the second half making six of their first eight shots to take a 42-36 lead with just under 16 minutes to play. Jones made a pair of free throws to cut it down to four points, but Collen Gurley scored the next 10 points of the game to give Mount Union a 14-point advantage. The Raiders built their largest lead of the game at 20 points with 6:13 left. The Dutchmen fought back and were able to cut the lead down to 13 with 1:45 to go.
 
Inside the Box Score

• Jones was a force inside for the Dutchmen scoring a game-high 23 points and grabbing nine rebounds. He got to the line 10 times and sunk a season-high nine free throws. This is the fifth game this season Jones has scored 20 or more points.
• Tyson Hofsass came off the bench to score a season-high nine points while making four of his five field goal attempts.
• Luis Garcia also made four of five field goals and finished with eight points.
• Ryan Harder also had eight points and grabbed seven rebounds.
• Kyle Tang led the team with four assists while Antonio Redding had a team-high three steals.
• LVC shot 39.3 percent from the field and 59.3 percent from the line.

 
Up Next
The Dutchmen will face their second Ohio Athletic Conference opponent of the week on Friday when they wrap up the Florida Sunshine Shootout against Marietta College. Tipoff is scheduled for 5 p.m. inside the Ocean Center.

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