Newburgh, N.Y. - It wasn't the prettiest of games Tuesday night in the Kaplan Center, but the Mount Saint Mary College men's basketball team edged Yeshiva, 63-62, to earn a crucial Skyline Conference victory. With both teams fighting for playoff positions, the Blue Knights moved into fourth place with a 6-5 conference record while Yeshiva remained in seventh place after dropping to 3-7. MSMC is 9-9 overall. Yeshiva is 6-10.
Mount Saint Mary burst out of the second half gates, scoring eight of the first eleven points to nab a 39-30 lead with over sixteen minutes to play. Several minutes later, freshman Matt Weinberger (Washingtonville, N.Y.) hit back-to-back lay-ups to give the Mount their biggest lead of the night, 45-34.
Trailing 51-41 with 9:39 remaining, Yeshiva rattled off an 11-2 run that cut the margin to one with just under six minutes remaining. Freshman Zachary Gordon (Miami, Fla.) hit two acrobatic lay-ups during the run and sophomore Alex Claster (Kansas City, Mo.) capped it with a three-pointer from the corner that evoked a roar from the Yeshiva bench.
After trading buckets for the next two minutes, Yeshiva junior Ben Lockspeiser (Highland Park, N.J.) knocked down a triple at 2:09 to make the score 59-57 Yeshiva, giving the Macs their first lead since the 2:58 mark of the first half. The Blue Knights were quick to answer, though, as Weinberger brought the ball up the floor and hit a pull-up jumper to tie the game at 59. Following a Yeshiva turnover, MSMC junior Alex Kuchar (Rutherford, N.J.) hit a baseline jumper to send the Blue Knights back into the lead. Gordon missed a tough lay-up at the other end and senior Jason Cardez (Ridgewood, N.Y.) dropped in an uncontested lay-up to make the score 63-59.
Claster nailed a long three with eight seconds remaining to cut the gap to one and the Macs quickly fouled Weinberger to stop the clock. Weinberger missed the front end of a one-and-one and an inadvertent whistle during the scramble for the rebound gave the ball over to Yeshiva. The Macs turned over the desperation baseball pass, though, and did not have enough time for another look after the Mount's freshman Tim Morris (Greenwich, N.Y.) missed a pair of free throws.
Kuchar scored a game-high 16 points, leading the Mount in scoring for the fourth game in a row. Weinberger had 12 points and 7 rebounds for the Blue Knights and junior Chris Harrison (Baldwin, N.Y.) had 11 points and 6 rebounds. Morris dropped in 9 points, collected 9 boards, and did a nice job at the defensive end of the floor limiting the looks to Yeshiva's leading scorer, Zachary Gordon.
Gordon finished with 13 points, well below his average of 19.7. He did complete a double-double with 13 rebounds. Claster had 15 points, but shot just 6-of-16 from the field and 3-of-10 from behind the arc. Senior David Schaulewicz (East Brunswick, N.J.) had a nice all-around night, racking up 10 points, 7 assists, and 5 rebounds.
After taking a 6-5 lead with 14:25 remaining in the first half, Yeshiva led until the 3:22 mark when Kuchar drained a three-pointer to tie the game at 23. Kuchar closed the half with back-to-back lay-ups, staking MSMC to a 31-27 advantage on their way into the locker room.
The teams struggled from the field in the first half, both connecting at only 33.3-percent. Yeshiva shot 60-percent in the second half to finish at 45-percent for the ball game while the Mount shot 46-percent in the second to finish at 40-percent. The Blue Knights missed all nine of their three-point attempts in the second half and shot just 2-for-17 from three overall.
Up next for the Mount is another home date, this time with Purchase College. The game will tip on Saturday, February 2 following the conclusion of the women's basketball game that begins at 1:00 p.m. Yeshiva hosts Bard on Thursday, January 31 beginning at 8:00 p.m.
