Riverdale, N.Y. – The College of Mount Saint Vincent Men's Basketball team lost for the fourth straight outing on Monday night following a tough, hard fought loss to league rival Old Westbury by a score of 82-79.
Sean Caputo (Staten Island, N.Y.) led four Dolphins with at least 10 points with a season-high 18 tallies.
After the two teams traded the first four buckets of the night, the Dolphins put together an 11-4 run to take a 15-8 lead.
Michael Knott (Rockaway Beach, N.Y.) was good for four points over the run and Caputo capped it with one of his four triples on the night.
The Dolphins would hang on to the advantage until Kerel Mitchell knotted the score at 25-25 with a free-throw and the Rashawn McCarthy gave the Panthers the advantage with a jumper with 7:26 remaining on the first half clock.
Mount Saint Vincent would not regain the lead again on the night, but would tie the score twice in the in the final five minutes.
Shaquille Cunningham (Brooklyn, N.Y.) got the score level at 29-29 with a layup at 4:46 and
D'Andre McPhatter (Bronx, N.Y.) tied the score at 37-37 with six seconds left to get the Mount to the intermission even with the Panthers.
Both teams shot the ball efficiently before the intermission, with the Dolphins converting 48.5-percent of their chances and the Panthers shooting 53.3-percent. The big advantage in the first half came in points off of turnovers, with Old Westbury leading the category 14-4.
The Panthers quickly gained a seven point lead at the start of the second period with the help of a bucket and a three-pointer from Mitchell. The Old Westbury lead would balloon to a game-high 11 points following a McCarthy lay-in capped a 15-8 spurt.
The Mount would answer with a 10-4 run keyed by three-point plays from Cunningham and
Kevin Henry. The second got the Mount to within 65-62 with 6:55 left in regulation. Old Westbury would quickly answer with eight straight points to regain an 11 point edge.
Mount Saint Vincent would get back to within four points after a five point swing on a three-pointer from Caputo and a pair of free-throws from McPhatter, but could not find a away to close its deficit to fewer then three points down the stretch.
Old Westbury shot better then 55-percent from the floor in the second half and knocked down 11 free-throws to earn the win. Tyrik Tucker led all scorers with 21 points on 8-for- 17 shooting. He also hauled in a team-high seven rebounds and chipped in with four assists and a pair of blocks.
Michell poured in 19 points and swiped four steals, with McCarthy and Josh Hill adding 14 and 13 points respectively. Omari Trebuse matched the game-high with five assists and also added three steals.
Caputo scored in double-figures for the second straight game and came up one point short of his career-high after going 7-for-13 from the floor and 4-for-10 from long distance. He also matched the game-high with five assists.
James Zuccaro (Gilbert, Ariz.) added 14 points and five rebounds, with Cunningham totaling a double-double with 12 points and a game and career-high 10 rebounds. McPhatter added 10 points and six boards for the Dolphins.
Overall Mount Saint Vincent shot 43.1-percent from the floor, while Old Westbury finished 51.6-percent from the field. The Panthers outscored the Mount 46-38 in the paint, 27-19 in points off of turnovers and 16-8 in fast break chances.
The loss sends Mount Saint Vincent to 3-8 overall and to 1-3 in league play. The Dolphins will be back in action on Wednesday when they play host to NYU-POLY. Tip-off is scheduled for 8:00 p.m.
