NEWBURGH, NY – The Mount Saint Mary College Blue Knights men's basketball team capped off their most impressive week of their season with a nice win and some momentum for the rest of the Skyline Conference season. Senior Alex Kuchar (Rutherford, N.J.) scored 17 second-half points to give the Blue Knights a hard fought 77-68 victory over the visiting Purchase College Panthers Saturday afternoon at the Kaplan Center.

Purchase sophomore Marvin Billups (Chester, N.Y) opened the contest with a dunk just three seconds in to give the visitors an early 2-0 lead. The homestanding Blue Knights then responded with a 10-2 run that included three-point plays from sophomore Matt Weinberger (Washingtonville, N.Y.) and freshman Carlos Valdez (Slate Hill, N.Y.).

The Panthers' leading scorer, senior Jerrelle Lewis (Brooklyn, N.Y.), returned to action from an injury and gave his team a much needed lift offensively. Lewis would drain a triple to give Purchase a 24-23 lead with six minutes to go in the first half. Mount Saint Mary senior Matt Cunningham (Roswell, Ga.) answered back immediately with a three pointer of his own to give the home team a 26-24 advantage. The Blue Knights would hold a 34-31 halftime lead and it marked the second straight game that the Mount held a three point advantage after 20 minutes of play. Senior Chris Harrison (Baldwin, N.Y.) led the team with nine first half points.

Lewis was still productive after halftime, draining a basket in the paint to cut the Blue Knights lead to just one point. But the Blue Knights had an answer as Harrison immediately put his team ahead by three with a bucket. Kuchar, with six points in the first half, put on a show in the second as he scored 17 points, keeping alive his torrid scoring rampage. With the Blue Knights leading 58-56, Kuchar drained one of his biggest shots of the game, hitting a two-pointer to give his a team a four point lead with under seven minutes to go. Purchase would get no closer than four the rest of the way as the Blue Knights iced the game with clutch free throw shooting.

The Blue Knights were once again led by Kuchar, who finished with 23 points. Harrison recorded a double-double, with 16 points and 15 rebounds as did Valdez, who tallied 14 points and 10 rebounds. Weinberger finished his day with 12 points. Meanwhile, Purchase was led by Lewis, with 22, and Billups, who had 16 in the losing effort.

Mount Saint Mary wins its third straight game to improve to 3-13 overall and 3-6 in the Skyline Conference, while Purchase drops its third game this week, falling to 8-7 and 4-5 in Skyline play.

The Blue Knights will close out their season long four game homestand next Tuesday night, January 27th against SUNY Maritime at 8:00 p.m. It will be the back end of a women's and men's basketball doubleheader. Maritime nipped the Blue Knights in their first conference game of the season, 75-73 at Maritime.