Riverdale, N.Y. – Senior Mark Waite (Chicago, Ill.) scored a team-high 16 points and D'Andre McPhatter (Bronx, N.Y.) netted a career-high 12 points as the College of Mount Saint Vincent Men's Basketball team rallied past Yeshiva 55-50 on Thursday night. The win is the fifth straight at home for the Dolphins.
 
The Mount trailed for much of the first half on Thursday and fell behind 11-4 after a Dovie Hoffman bucket at 12:37. The Dolphins went on to rally and put together a 14-6 run keyed by three-pointers from Sean Caputo (Staten Island, N.Y.) and Stephen Oliver (Brooklyn, N.Y.) to pull in front 18-17.
 
Yeshiva quickly regained the lead and held the Mount to just four points over the final seven minutes of the first half to carry a 25-22 lead into the intermission. The Maccabees shot 44-percent from the floor in the opening 20 minutes and were paced by eight points from both Hoffman and Gil Bash.
 
Yeshiva would hold onto the lead coming out of halftime and extended it to five points twice in the first three minutes of the period. Mount Saint Vincent would battle back with a 7-2 spurt to tie the score for the fourth time of the game after a pair of Shaquille Cunningham (Brooklyn, N.Y.) free-throws at the 13:29 mark of the second half.
 
Cunningham would knot the score for the first of eight times in the second half as neither team would be able to pull in front by more then five points the rest of the night. A Waite conversion at the 11:48 mark gave the Dolphins their first lead of the second frame before the two teams went on to trade the lead six times over the final 12 minutes.
 
Waite would push the Mount in front 45-43 at the 5:57 mark and Cunningham appeared to give the Dolphins some breathing room when he got the Dolphins in front 47-43 with a lay-in with 5:22 showing on the clock.
 
Shlomo Weissberg would not let Yeshiva go away and he tied the scored twice for the Maccabees in the final 3:24. The Dolphins finally got in front for good after a McPhatter bucket at 2:19 and the Mount went on to convert four big free-throws in the final 11 seconds, including two from McPhatter, get the Mount in front by three points.
 
Overall in the game, Mount Saint Vincent shot 35.2-percent from the floor and struggled from behind the arc after going 4-for-16. Despite struggling for much of the season from the free-throw line, the Dolphins came up big from the stripe and went 13-for-15 on Thursday.
 
Waite finished the night with 16 points on 6-for-12 shooting, including a perfect 4-for-4 effort from the free-throw line. He also led all players in the game with nine rebounds to go along with an assist and a steal.
 
McPhatter finished the night 4-for-6 from the floor and went 4-for-5 from the line on his way to his career-high point total. He also secured seven rebounds and blocked a shot. Caputo finished the night with 11 points, four rebounds and three assists.
 
Yeshiva shot 42.6-percent overall on Thursday but went just 1-for-9 from behind the arc. Hoffman led all scorers with 17 points, while Weissberg netted 12. Omer Haim paced the Maccabees with a game-high seven assists.
 
The win improves Mount Saint Vincent's record to 9-13 overall on the season and to 7-8 in Skyline Conference play. Next up for the Dolphins is a trip to Purchase on Saturday afternoon. Tip-off with the Panthers is scheduled for 2:00 p.m.