Daytona Beach, Fla. – Senior
Shaquille Cunningham (Brooklyn, N.Y.) scored a team-high 21 points and sophomore
D'Andre McPhatter (Bronx, N.Y.) chipped in with a career-high 15, but the College of Mount Saint Vincent Men's Basketball team was clipped on Thursday night by Fontbonne by a score of 79-73.
The Dolphins got off to a slow start on Thursday and found themselves trailing by seven points after a three point play from Jack Stephens four and a half minutes into the tilt.
Mount Saint Vincent rebounded from the early deficit with an 8-0 run to take its first lead of the game at 10-9. McPhatter sparked the run with five points, including a three-point play with 15:29 left in the half to start the sequence.
Greg Gentry quickly got Fontbonne the lead back with a three-point field goal that started a 19-7 spurt, giving the Griffins their largest lead of the half with 4:26 left before the break. Andrew Chism led the offensive attack over the stretch with nine points.
The Dolphins rallied to get the lead back to five points in the final minute of the half on a
Michael Knott (Rockaway Beach, N.Y.) conversion, but Blake Welch canned a triple for Fontbonne with eight ticks left in the period to send the Griffins to the break with a 37-29 advantage.
Fontbonne finished the first half shooting an efficient 52-percent from the floor overall and went 4-for-7 on three-point chances. Mount Saint Vincent shot 28-percent and 0-for-8 from behind the arc. McPhatter paced the Dolphins with eight points in the opening stanza, with Chism leading all players with 11.
Out of the break, Mount Saint Vincent got five quick points on a lay-in from Knott and a three-pointer from
Stephen Oliver (Brooklyn, N.Y.) to get its disadvantage to three points with 18:05 to play in regulation time.
The Griffins would not surrender the lead until a three-point play from Cunningham got the Dolphins in front 55-54. Cunningham extended the Dolphins' lead to three points with a bucket at the 9:53 mark, but the Griffins answered with an 18-7 run to grab an eight point advantage in the final two minutes.
Over the deciding eight minute stretch, the Dolphins converted just two field goals and the big bucket from Fontbonne came on a three from Yada Demisse to double a three-point lead with 2:36 to play.
Chism finished the night with a game-high 26 points off the bench on 9-for-14 shooting overall and a 3-for-7 night from long distance. His effort helped the Griffins to a 56-20 advantage in bench points on the night.
Jared Greenlee finished up with 15 points for Fontbonne and Gentry chipped in with 10. Greenlee also grabbed a game-high 11 rebounds and Gentry led all players with four assists.
Cunningham scored 16 of his team-high 21 after halftime on Thursday and wrapped up the night 6-for-12 from the floor. He also grabbed five rebounds and handed out a pair of assists.
McPhatter reached his career-high point total on 5-for-11 shooting and also hauled in a career best 10 rebounds on the way to his first career double-double. Knott had a strong game for the Dolphins with 13 points and seven rebounds.
Sean Caputo (Staten Island, N.Y.) added 10 points and handed out a team-high three assists.
For the game, Fontbonne finished shooting 49-percent overall and 43.8-percent from behind the arc. The Griffins struggled from the free-throw line after going just 22-for-40 on the night.
The Dolphins shot 39.7-percent from the floor after converting on nearly half of their chances in the second half. The Dolphins finished the night 4-for-19 from three-point range and 23-for-31 from the free-throw line.
Thursday's loss drops Mount Saint Vincent to 3-7 overall on the season. The game against Fontbonne closes out the first semester for the Dolphins, who will be back in action again on January 7 against Old Westbury. Tip-off at the Peter Jay Sharp Center is scheduled for 8:00 p.m.
