Newburgh, N.Y. - Amidst forty-six personal fouls and five technical fouls, the Mount Saint Mary College men's basketball emerged from the Kaplan Center with an 80-73 Skyline Conference victory over the College of Mount Saint Vincent Saturday afternoon. Junior Alex Kuchar (Rutherford, N.J.) scored a game-high 23 points for the Blue Knights, who improved to 11-9 overall and 8-5 in the Skyline Conference. The Dolphins dropped to 8-13 overall and 5-9 inside the conference.

Mount Saint Vincent took control of the game early and led by as many as eight with 13:37 remaining in the first half. The Blue Knights chipped away at the lead and four consecutive points from junior Matt Cunningham (Alpharetta, Ga.) tied the game at 24 with just under five minutes to play in the period. Another Mount Saint Vincent spurt extended the lead to seven, but MSMC finished the half with five of the last six points to cut the deficit to three (33-30).

Trailing by five with 13:28 to play, Mount Saint Mary conducted an 8-0 run that lasted just forty-seven seconds. Kuchar hit a triple to tie the game at 46 and then following a steal by senior Jason Cardez (Ridgewood, N.Y.), junior Dave Canazon (Middletown, N.Y.) drained a three to give the Blue Knights their first lead of the game.

Tied once again with 6:01 remaining, Mount Saint Vincent freshman Kyle Byrons (Goshen, N.Y.) converted a pair of free throws to give the Dolphins a two point cushion. After a Kuchar miss, senior Derek Charlton (Yonkers, N.Y.) hit a lay-up to extend the Dolphin lead to four. Another quick miss by the Blue Knights leant Mount Saint Vincent the opportunity to seize control of the game, but they missed back-to-back attempts to keep the margin at four.

At the other end, freshman Tim Morris (Greenwich, N.Y.) cut into the lead with a lay-up on a nice feed from Kuchar. The Blue Knights then capitalized on three consecutive turnovers by the Dolphins as Kuchar took control of the game. He hit a trey at 4:15 to give the Blue Knights a one point lead (68-67) and then another at 3:32 to extend it to four. At 3:13, Kuchar capped a 10-0 run for MSMC with a lay-up that made the score 73-67. From there, Mount Saint Vincent was able to cut the lead back to three, but the Blue Knights took care of their free throws down the stretch and held on for the 80-73 victory.

Of Kuchar's 23 points, 16 of them came in the second half and 11of the 16 came in the final five minutes. Freshman Matt Weinberger (Washingtonville, N.Y.) had 16 points and a game-high 5 assists. Junior Chris Harrison (Baldwin, N.Y.) had 13 points and 6 rebounds despite playing just twenty-one minutes due to foul trouble.

Junior Joe Cooke (Mount Vernon, N.Y.) led the way for the Dolphins, finishing with 16 points on 7-of-14 shooting. Charlton, also limited because of foul trouble, scored 14 points to go along with 7 rebounds. Byrons had a game-high 9 rebounds and also dropped in 12 points for Mount Saint Vincent.

The game featured 46 combined personal fouls, the second highest total in a Mount Saint Mary contest this season. Five technical fouls, including two double technicals, were assessed between the two teams. MSMC shot just 40.3-percent as compared to Mount Saint Vincent's conversion rate of 47.1-percent and was out-rebounded, 46-32.

Mount Saint Mary's next contest is Tuesday, February 12 as they travel to East Rutherford, N.J. to take on Maritime College. The game will take place in the Izod Center and is scheduled to tip at 3:00 p.m. before the New Jersey Nets game against the Minnesota Timberwolves.