Old Westbury, N.Y. – The College of Mount Saint Vincent Men's Basketball team dropped an 86-78 road loss at Old Westbury on Saturday afternoon, marking the team's first conference loss of the season. Senior James Zuccaro (Gilbert, Ariz.) led the scoring attack with a game-high 25 points, while freshman Andrew Curiel (Bronx, N.Y.) reached double-figures for the first time in his career with 12 points.
 
The game featured three ties and three lead changes in the opening minutes before the Dolphins jumped in front 17-11 on a Kyle Beckmann (New City, N.Y.) three-point field goal six minutes into the tilt. The Mount would match its game-high lead at 19-13 on an Ammad Alkhulaidi (Brooklyn, N.Y.) bucket the 12:29 mark of the first half before Old Westbury used a 13-0 run to take a 26-19 lead with 9:21 left before halftime.
 
After gaining the lead midway through the opening period, Old Westbury would not trail again in the contest. The lead would grow to 32-22 on a Cory Alexander three-pointer with 5:48 left in the period and moved to a half-high 13 points on a Nat Vaughn lay-in in the final 90 seconds before the Panthers took a 43-31 advantage into the intermission.
 
Mount Saint Vincent allowed 10 offensive rebounds and 12 second chance points before halftime and saw the Panthers turn 11 turnovers into 11 points. The Old Westbury bench also played a role in the first half, outscoring the Mount's bench 28-4 before halftime. Mark Gjonlekaj paced all scorers in the half with 16 points on 7-for-9 shooting.
 
The Panthers kept their advantage in double-figures over the first 13 minutes of the second half and pushed out to a game-high 59-39 lead on a Luckens Victor dunk with 14:09 left in regulation.
 
The Dolphins would slice their disadvantage to five points with a 28-13 stretch keyed by five three-point field goals, including two each from Zuccaro and Antonio Johnson (Fort Johnson, N.Y.). Old Westbury responded by outscoring the Mount by three points over the final three minutes to secure the final eight points victory.
 
Mount Saint Vincent finished the game shooting 44.3-percent from the floor and held Old Westbury to a 42.4-percent effort. The Dolphins knocked in two more three-point field goals in the game, but was outscored 21-13 from the free-throw line. The Panthers rounded out the game with 19 offensive rebounds and 23 second chance points and outscored the Mount 23-10 on the fast break.
 
Zuccaro finished the game 8-for-13 from the floor, 3-for-4 from three-point range and a perfect 6-for-6 from the free-throw line. He hauled in a game-high 11 rebounds and swiped a career-high six steals. Johnson scored 17 points, hitting four three-point field goals, adding a pair of assists.
 
Curiel posted a career-high 12 points, scoring all his points after halftime, going 6-for-8 from the floor and grabbing nine rebounds. Classmate Jamir Ferebee (Staten Island, N.Y.) chipped in with 10 points off the bench and was one of four players with three assists for the Mount.
 
Old Westbury got 18 points and seven rebounds from Gjonlekaj to lead the team and a game-high five assists from Omari Trebuse.
 
Saturday's loss drops Mount Saint Vincent to 8-3 overall and to 4-1 in Skyline Conference play. The Dolphins will look to get back into the win column on Monday night when they travel to the City College of New York. Tip-off with the Beavers is scheduled for 7:00 p.m.

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