Final Stats
Albany, N.Y. – The College of Mount Saint Vincent Men's Basketball team dropped its fourth straight game on Wednesday night with an 84-78 loss at Sage. Junior Cody Gauvard (Rockaway, N.Y.) led the Mount with 22 points and senior Dino Johnson (Fort Johnson, N.Y.) finished with 20.
The Dolphins quickly jumped pout to a three point lead in the early going and held a lead as four points in the first frame, before the Gators closed the period on a 6-0 run to take a 38-33 lead into halftime. Sage shot just under 54-percent in the half and was led by 11 points from Ryan Sager.
The Gators continued their hot shooting in the second half when they put together a 21-9 run over nearly five minutes to open their largest lead of the game at 13 points with just over three minutes left in regulation. The Dolphins would get the deficit down to five points in the final half minute, but that would be as close as they would get the rest of the night.
Sage shot nearly 58-percent from the field in the second half with Pat Lanoue going 4-for-4 from the floor on his way to 13 second half points. The Dolphins also had a strong second half after scoring 45 points and shooting better then 45-percent from the field. Gauvard netted 21 of his 22 points after halftime.
Gauvard finished the night 9-for-20 from the floor on his way to the team-high point total and also chipped in with eight rebounds and three assists. Johnson scored 20 points in a game for the second time this season, with the first coming in the two team's earlier meeting this season. The senior finished the night 6-for-11 from the floor and 4-for-8 from behind the arc. He also led the Dolphins with five assists.
Sophomore George Naldjieff (Miami, Fla.) continued his solid play since entering the starting lineup, matching his career-high with 14 points on 6-for-8 shooting. He also blocked a shot and swiped two steals for the Mount. Mark Waite (Chicago, Ill.) matched Gauvard with a team-high eight rebounds and also added seven points.
Overall on the night, the Dolphins shot 43.1-percent from the field and knocked down eight three pointers. The Mount went 14-for-19 from the free-throw line but was outscored by five from the line after the Gators went 19-for-40.
Sage used a balanced scoring attack on Wednesday with Jake Douty leading five Gators in double-figures with a game-high 23 points, with Lanoue netting 18. Jeff Stopera led all players with 10 of Sage's 19 assists on the night.
For the second straight game and for the sixth time this season, Mount Saint Vincent allowed a team to shoot at least 50-percent from the field after Sage finished the night at 55.6-percent overall. In those games the Dolphins stand at 1-5 with the lone win coming at Mitchell in the third game of the season.
After opening the season 10-0, the Dolphins are 2-6 in their last eight and stand at 12-6 overall on the season and 7-6 in Skyline Conference play. The Dolphins will look to get back on track when they return home to face NYU-POLY on Saturday. Tip-off with the Blue Jays is set for 3:00 p.m.
