Dartmouth, Mass. – The College of Mount Saint Vincent Men's Basketball team opened the 2011-12 season with a 85-74 loss to UMass-Dartmouth in its opening game of the Hampton Inn Classic on Friday night. Four Dolphins scored in double-figures on the night, led by 18 points from Jon Moore (Cleveland, Ohio).
 
Mount Saint Vincent would gain its only lead of the contest early in the first half after a Moore layup put the Dolphins in front 10-7 with 15:33 left in the opening 20 minutes of play.
 
The rest of the half would be played inside a three point window until the Corsairs ran off a 24 of the next 35 points to open its largest lead of the game, at 43-29, with just over two minutes to play in the half. The Mount would close the half with back-to-back layups from Cody Gauvard (Rockaway, N.Y.) and Shaquille Cunningham (Brooklyn, N.Y.) to get to within eight points at the intermission.
 
Despite shooting just under 48-percent from the floor in the first half, the Dolphins allowed nine three-point field goals in trailing by eight. Mount Saint Vincent took 22 free-throws in the opening frame, shooting 68.2-percent from the charity stripe.
 
The Dolphins would open the second half with a quick 7-0 run to cut their deficit to just one point after a triple from Moore and a pair of buckets from junior Yeuri Santos (New York, N.Y.). That would be the closet the Mount would get the rest of the way, as the Corsairs methodically built their lead back to double-figures.
 
Moore would hit another three-point field goal with 4:42 left in regulation to close out a quick 8-3 spurt from the Mount, but UMass-Dartmouth would convert four free-throws in the late stages of the period to secure the victory.
 
Moore scored 14 of his game-high 18 points after halftime and finished the game 7-for-21 from the floor and 4-for-12 from three-point range. Moore also secured a rebound and recorded an assist on the night.
 
Gauvard finished the night with 15 points for the Mount after shooting 6-for-10 from the floor. He finished a strong season opener with seven rebounds and a pair of steals. Freshman D'Andre McPhatter (Bronx, N.Y.) tallied 10 points in his first career game, going 8-for-10 from the free-throw line.
 
Rounding out the quartet in double-figures was Cunningham, who finished with 12 points on 4-for-11 shooting. He also hauled in six rebounds and finished with two steals. Mark Waite (Chicago, Ill.) also had a solid night with nine points and seven boards.
 
Overall, Mount Saint Vincent finished the night shooting 40-percent from the floor and 65.6-percent from the free-throw line. The Dolphins turned the ball over 23 times on the night and were outrebounded 50-39, including 19-10 on the offensive glass.
 
UMass-Dartmouth was paced by a double-double from Lance Green, who finished with 16 points and a game-high 15 rebounds. Alex Klepadlo posted a team-high 17 points with Jeff Tagger and Alex Rodrigues leading the way with four assists each.
 
The Corsairs finished the night with 13 three-pointers in the game and also dominated in the paint, outscoring the Mount 36-16. The UMass-Dartmouth bench also had an efficient night, accounting for 31 points.
 
The loss drops Mount Saint Vincent to 0-1 on the season. The Dolphins will be back in action tomorrow afternoon when they take on Maine-Farmington in the consolation game of the Classic. Tip-off with the Beavers is scheduled for 1:00 p.m.