WASHINGTON, Pa. -- The Washington & Jefferson College men's basketball team used a second half surge to reduce a double-digit second half deficit to just three in the game's final minutes. However the clock ran out on W&J's comeback bid as Mount St. Joseph came away with a 64-57 win at the Salvitti Family Gymnasium on Saturday afternoon.
 
MSJ used first-half runs of 9-0 and 13-0 to lead by 12 at halftime, and the Loins extended their lead to a game-high 14 points (45-31) with the first basket of the second half.
 
The Presidents turned up the defensive intensity, limiting the Lions to 21 total points in the second half. MSJ shot 31% (8-of-26) from the field, 2-of-12 from three and turned the ball over 10 times in the game's final 20 minutes.
 
MSJ led 57-46 with five minutes remaining, but the Presidents had one final push left. A pair of free throws by Okikiola Agbale (Pittsburgh, Pa./Shaler) and a three from AJ Blue (Kensington, Md./Sidwell Friends (D.C.)) on back-to-back trips had the Presidents down six with four minutes to play.
 
Following a MSJ three, Primo Zini (Morgantown, W.Va./Trinity Christian) connected on a jumper and a pair of free throws to trim the deficit to five with two minutes left. Following a steal by Zach Queen (Jeannette, Pa./Hempfield Area), Blue put in an offensive rebound to put the Presidents within three, 60-57, with 1:53 left in regulation.
 
MSJ's Devin Young connected on a contested back shot from the right block to put the Loins ahead two possessions for the rest of the way.
 
Following Young's make, the teams combined for five consecutive turnovers before W&J had to foul in the game's final 30 seconds.
 
W&J scored eight of the game's first 10 points, including six-straight points from Agbale to begin the contest. A layup by Zini gave the Presidents their largest lead of the first half, 8-2, with 16:58 to play.
 
Following a MSJ three to tie the game at eight, Jonathan DeVito (Pittsburgh, Pa./Pittsburgh Central Catholic) knocked in a three-pointer to push the Presidents ahead 11-8 with 15:21 left in the half. The Presidents led 14-10 before the Lions reeled off four-consecutive points to tie the game at 14.
 
Mount St. Joseph took its first lead with a 9-0 run that featured three made MSJ three-pointers in less than two minute. Following the barrage, MSJ led 25-18. The Presidents scored the next six points with a three-pointer play from Agbale and a three-point make from Matt Kanan (New Paltz, N.Y./New Paltz) trimmed the deficit to one.
 
MSJ responded with another big run, reeling off 13-straight points to lead 38-24 with 3:24 left in the half. The run featured seven points from the Lion's Brady Thomas while the Presidents were 0-4 from the field with five turnovers.
 
Free throws from Zini and Queen brought the deficit to single digits (40-31) with under a minute to play in the first half, but a David Luers three in the half's final 10 seconds put the Lions ahead 43-31 at the halftime break.
 
MSJ made 17-of-30 shots (56.7%) and 7-of-17 (31.2%) threes in the first half to build a double-digit halftime advantage.
 
W&J struggled from the field, shooting a season-low 37.5% (18-of-48) from the field and 19.0% (4-of-21) from three. The Presidents were 17-of-18 (94.4%) from the free throw line while MSJ was five-of seven from the stripe.
 
Zini notched a season-high 17 points, along with eight rebounds and two blocks. Agable finished with 13 points.
 
Queen set season-highs in rebounds (6), assists (4) and steals (3) and had four points in a game-high 35 minutes.
 
The Red and Black begins Presidents' Athletic Conference (PAC) play Wednesday evening at Saint Vincent.