Final Stats
Throggs Neck, N.Y. – All five starters scored in double-figures on Saturday as the College of Mount Saint Vincent Men's Basketball team scored a critical 72-63 Skyline Conference victory at Maritime. Freshman Maxxwell Faircloth (Bronx, N.Y.) led the Mount with a career-high 19 points in his first career start.
Mount Saint Vincent quickly jumped out to a 12 point lead after scoring 14 of the first 16 points in the contest. The Dolphins used a pair of 7-0 runs to open that lead with Joe Ecock (Brooklyn, N.Y.) and Faircloth combing to score 12 of the Mount's first 14 points.
The Mount opened a lead as large as 13 points in the first half after a Faircloth jumper with 6:47 left in the first half, but a 15-4 run by Maritime got the Privateers to within just two points with three minutes left in the half. An Ecock tripled answered the run for the Dolphins as they headed into the beak leading on the road by a score of 31-28.
Ecock did all of his scoring before halftime on Saturday and led all scorers at the break with 13 points. He went 5-for-6 from the floor and drained three triples for the Dolphins as he and Faircloth combined for 24 of the Mount's 31 points.
Mount Saint Vincent would maintain a lead in the game until the 10:22 mark of the second half when a Sam Porte three point play knotted the score at 48-48. The Privateers would take their first lead of the game moments later when Giovanni Hurley converted a jump shot, but the Mount would quickly score the next four points to regain a three point edge with 8:44 left in regulation.
Maritime would answer again to tie the score at 53-53 following a Quamel Lyerly bucket with 8:27 left in the contest and would take its largest lead of the day when Hurley drained a jumper to push the Privateers in front 55-53 with 7:40 remaining.
The Dolphins would not let Maritime extend its lead past two points the remainder of the afternoon and Shaquille Cunningham (Brooklyn, N.Y.) gave the Mount the lead back for good after a key three-pointer with 7:14 left to play.
Maritime would get to within one point with just over six minutes left in regulation, but the Mount converted seven free-throws, including a three point play from Dino Johnson (Fort Johnson, N.Y.), in the final five minutes to sew up the victory.
Although Mount Saint Vincent shot just over 39-percent from the floor on the afternoon, its defense held the Privateers to just 34.8-percent shooting overall and allowed Maritime to shoot just 2-for-14 from behind the arc. The Dolphins also forced 19 turnovers on Saturday and turned those into 20 points.
Faircloth finished the day 8-for-21 from the floor on his way to the career-high point total and also posted his first career double-double after pulling down a career best 15 rebounds.
Cunningham, Johnson and George Naldjieff (Miami, Fla.) all scored at least 11 points for the Mount with Cunningham netting 12 points. Naldjieff also added a double-double with 11 boards to go along with his 11 points. Cunningham led the team with four assists, while Johnson collected a team-high five steals.
Maritime (8-12, 6-9 Skyline) was paced by Lyerly who poured in a game-high 23 points and also added a team-high 12 rebounds. Lyerly nearly missed a triple-double for the Privateers after also collecting a game-high seven steals.
The win gives Mount Saint Vincent two victories in its last three outings and moves it to 14-7 overall on the season and to 9-7 in league play. The Dolphins will look to continue their momentum at home on Tuesday night when they host Purchase. Tip-off with the Panthers is slated for 7:00 p.m.
