Final Statistics

New York, N.Y. – The College of Mount Saint Vincent Men's Basketball team dropped its fourth game out of its last five after a heartbreaking 73-71 loss at Yeshiva on Thursday night. A pair of Dolphins scored in

Senior Nick DiMaggio has reached double-figures in each of the last two games.

double-figures on the night with senior Nick DiMaggio (Croton, N.Y.) leading the way with 14 points.

The Maccabees came out strong in the contest scoring eight of the first nine points, keyed by three pointers from Omer Haim and Chen Biron in the first 1:56 of play. The Dolphins clawed back to within one point on a Dino Johnson (Amsterdam, N.Y.) triple, but quickly fell behind by nine after an 8-0 run by the Macs keyed by another Haim trey.

Mount Saint Vincent would trail until the 8:22 mark of the opening period when Cody Guavard (Rockaway Park, N.Y.) converted a layup to push the Dolphins in front for good in the period. The Dolphins largest lead of the half came with 5:43 left to play after an Eric Van Tine (Hawthorne, N.J.) free throw moved them in front by seven at 29-22.

Yeshiva would close to within three points twice in the final 2:46 of the half, but a Van Tine layup in the closing seconds sent the Dolphins into the locker room with a 34-29 advantage.

The Dolphins held the lead at the break despite Yeshiva shooting a blistering 64.7 percent from the floor. Five of the 11 field goals the Macs converted came from behind the arc with Haim and Chen each knocking down a pair. Mount Saint Vincent took advantage of eight more free-throw attempts in the first half and outscored Yeshiva by three from the line.

The second half opened much the same way the first half did for the Dolphins, with Yeshiva using a big run to open an eight point lead just 3:15 into the half. The Maccabees ran off 15 of the first 17 points in the period to regain a lead they would hold for the majority of the period.

Mount Saint Vincent would not let its deficit grow any larger then eight points and used an 11-2 run in the middle stages of the stanza to regain a two point lead at 57-55. The run was initiated by a Guavard layup and it was capped by a Shaquille Cunningham (Brooklyn, N.Y.) triple with 6:58 to play in regulation.

The Dolphins would not relinquish the lead until the 3:26 mark on yet another Biron triple that moved Yeshiva in front by one at 63-62. After falling behind by five, DiMaggio reeled off five straight points to tie the score at 67-67 with 1:22 left, but the Dolphins could not get over the hump and regain the lead the rest of the night.

Cunningham would pull the Dolphins to within two points with five seconds to play and after two missed free-throws by Yeshiva Cunningham had a shot at the buzzer to tie the score at 73 but could not get it to go down.

Martin Leibovich keyed the Yeshiva rally in the second half with 18 of his game-high 22 points in the period. As a team, the Maccabees shot just under 65-percent from the floor (24-for-37) and knocked in 10 three pointers. Haim and Biron also reached double-figures with 14 and 11 points respectively. 

DiMaggio knocked down four of the 10 Mount Saint Vincent triples in the contest on his way to the team-high 14 points. Guavrad chipped in with 13 to go along with five rebounds. Sean Caputo (Staten Island, N.Y.) continued his hot shooting from behind the arc with three more treys and now has 12 in his last three outings.

Cunningham had a strong tilt as well for the Dolphins, finishing with seven points, seven boards and a game-high six assists against just one turnover. Pat Panetta (Ridgefield Park, N.J.) chipped in with six points and two steals.

The loss drops Mount Saint Vincent to 7-8 overall on the season and to 4-7 in league play. The Dolphins will be back in action again on Wednesday when they host Mount Saint Mary. Tip-off with the Blue Knights is set for 7:00 p.m.