Purchase, N.Y. – College of Mount Saint Vincent senior
Sean Caputo knocked down five three-point field goals and finished with a career-high 21 points, but the Dolphins dropped the 2012-13 season series to Purchase following a 74-65 road loss to the Panthers on Thursday.
Shaquille Cunningham (Brooklyn, N.Y.) and
James Zuccaro (Gilbert, Ariz.) combined for two of the first three baskets of the game in the opening 1:38 to give the Dolphins their only leads of the night.
Trailing 4-2, Purchase ripped off the next nine points, including four tallies from Ryan Lobban, to pull in front 11-4 with 14:46 left before halftime.
After taking a seven point lead, the two teams would trade three pointers with an Andre Nixon trey getting sandwiched between a pair of Caputo triples. Each of Caputo's threes sliced the Dolphins deficit to four points, the closest they would be the remainder of the period.
A 14-6 run from the Panthers covering nearly eight minutes would give Purchase its largest lead of the half, at 28-16, after a Joel Neri free-throw. The Dolphins would rally with seven of the final nine points of the period, including five tallies from Zuccaro to get the Mount to within 30-23 at the half.
Back-to-back jumpers from Caputo and
Anthony Woods (West Palm Beach, Fla.) would get Mount Saint Vincent back to within three points early in the second half, but that would be as close as the Dolphins would creep the rest of the evening.
A Nixon jumper would push Purchase's lead to 10 points at the 13:12 mark of the second half and it grabbed its largest lead of the night, at 58-44, following a 9-3 spurt capped by a Amar Reynolds jumper with just over six minutes left in the contest.
The Dolphins would mount a final push on Thursday and got their deficit to six points on a
Stephen Oliver (Brooklyn, N.Y.) triple with 1:24 left. Purchase would go on to knock in six free-throws over the final minute to secure its second victory of the season over the Mount.
Mount Saint Vincent finished the night shooting 43.9-percent overall and knocked down eight three-pointers for the second straight game. Purchase shot an even 49-percent from the floor and outscored the Dolphins from the free-throw line 17-7.
Caputo finished the night 8-for-13 from the field overall and 5-for-10 from distance on Thursday. He also led the team with five assists and three steals. Cunningham also scored in double-figures and finished with 10 points and three assists.
Woods and Zuccaro each hauled in five rebounds in the game, with Oliver and Antonio Johnson (Fort Johnson, N.Y.) adding nine and eight points, respectively.
Nixon paced the Purchase scoring attack with 19 points on the strength of 6-for-8 shooting overall and an impressive 5-for-6 effort from three-point range. Justin Person added 18 points and a game-high eight assists, with Craigh Davis adding 13 tallies. David Haughton led all players with 11 rebounds.
Following Thursday's result, Mount Saint Vincent stands at 5-15 overall and at 3-10 in Skyline Conference play. Next up for the Dolphins is a home date with Farmingdale St. on Saturday afternoon. Tip-off at the Sharp Center is scheduled for 3:30 p.m.
