Old Westbury, N.Y. – The College of Mount Saint Vincent Men's Basketball team placed five players in double-figures on Tuesday night at Old Westbury by dropped its sixth game by three or fewer points with a 72-71 defeat to the Panthers. Junior James Zuccaro (Gilbert, Ariz.) paced a balanced scoring attack with 19 points.
 
Mount Saint Vincent scored the first six points of the game on Tuesday keyed by a three-point field goal from senior Sean Caputo (Staten Island, N.Y.) to open the scoring. The Dolphins would surrender the lead just once in the opening 20 minutes, when Old Westbury used a 10-2 run to jump in front 10-8 after a pair of Josh Hill free-throws at the 13:19 mark.
 
Following the Hill free-throws, the two teams would be tied twice over the next three possessions, before the Mount used an 11-4 spurt capped by a pair of Antonio Johnson (Fort Johnson, N.Y.) free-throws to take a 23-16 lead with just over seven minutes remaining before halftime.
 
The Dolphins would spread their lead to double-figures when Zuccaro drained a three-point field goal with 3:20 left in the period and a Shaquille Cunningham (Brooklyn, N.Y.) three-point play with 1:07 on the clock gave the Mount their largest lead of the half at 40-24.
 
The Dolphins shot 52-percent from the floor in the first half and took a 40-26 lead into the intermission. Johnson led the scoring attack with 10 points and the Mount used a 16-9 edge in bench scoring to build its advantage. The defense held Old Westbury to 30.3-percent shooting and the Panthers went 1-for-10 from behind the arc.
 
Mount Saint Vincent matched its largest lead of the game after a pair of Cunningham free-throws in the first two minutes of the second half and maintained a double-figure advantage until the midway point of the second stanza.
 
Tyrik Tucker got Old Westbury back to within nine points on a lay-in at the 10:40 mark, but the Dolphins would hang on to the lead  until the 3:34 mark of regulation time. Old Westbury put together a 13-7 stretch over a three and a half minutes to take a 65-64 lead on a Tucker conversion on the fast break.
 
Tucker's bucket would give Old Westbury the lead for good as the Panthers held the Mount to just a pair of field goals over the final 4:35. After Hill gave Old Westbury its largest lead of the night at four points with a three-point play, Zuccaro buried a triple with 55 ticks left to bring the Dolphins to within a point.
 
Each team had the ball in the final half minute, with Old Westbury missing on a triple and a put back and the Mount missing on a triple at the horn to take the lead.
 
Old Westbury (17-3, 12-0 Skyline) rebounded to shoot better then 51-percent from the floor in the second half, on its way to outscoring Mount Saint Vincent 46-31. The Dolphins were held to 9-for-28 shooting after halftime and misfired on six free-throws in the final 20 minutes.
 
Tucker scored 25 of his game-high 32 points after halftime for the Panthers and went 9-for-14 from the floor and 7-for-10 from the free-throw line in the second frame. He also led all players with 16 rebounds and five assists.
 
Hill added 16 points off the bench for Old Westbury, while Rashawn McCarthy added 13 points. Omari Trebuse handed out a team-high three assists and Darnell Chvis chipped in with six points and eight boards.
 
Zuccaro rounded out the night shooting 7-for-14 overall and 3-for-5 from behind the arc for the Dolphins. He also grabbed a team-high nine rebounds and handed out a game-high four assists.
 
D'Andre McPhatter (Bronx, N.Y.) matched his career-high with 15 points to go along with six boards and a pair of assists. Johnson finished the night with 13 points and a pair of helpers, with Cunningham chipping in with 10 tallies.
 
Caputo knocked down three triples for the Mount on his way to 11 points and also collected two of the team's three steals. He collected one rebound and added an assist on the night.
 
For the night, Mount Saint Vincent was outscored in the paint 40-22 and the Panthers used a 14-6 edge on the offensive glass to outscore the Dolphins in second chance points 11-6. Old Westbury also scored all 10 fast break points in the game.
 
Tuesday's loss drops Mount Saint Vincent to 5-14 overall on the season and to 3-9 in Skyline Conference contests. The Dolphins will look to rebound on Thursday night when they travel to Purchase. Tip-off with the Panthers is scheduled for 6:00 p.m.