RIVERDALE, NY – In another classic battle between Mount Saint Mary and Mount Saint Vincent, the Dolphins rallied from a five-point half time deficit to defeat the Blue Knights, 83-77. Mount Saint Vincent sophomore Dino Johnson (Amsterdam, N.Y.) scored 20 points and had 10 rebounds to lead his team to the victory on Saturday afternoon.

The visiting Blue Knights would jump out to a thirteen point lead (26-13) in the first eight minutes, but the home-standing Dolphins would then respond with a 14-0 run of their own to take a brief 27-26 lead. Mount Saint Mary freshman Carlos Valdez (Slate Hill, N.Y.) finally broke the run with a layup in the paint to put the Blue Knights back on top, 28-27. After trading points for the next three minutes, Mount Saint Mary senior Alex Kuchar (Rutherford, N.J.) scored five consecutive points to give the Blue Knights a four point cushion. They would extend the lead back to as many as seven before carrying a 42-37 advantage into the locker room. The Blue Knights shot 56.7-percent in the opening 20 minutes, while the Dolphins connected on just 36.6-percent of their attempts.

After halftime, the Blue Knights hit back-to-back layups, one from Valdez and the other from sophomore Matt Weinberger (Washingtonville, N.Y.), to extend the lead to nine. Junior Chris Kingly (Washingtonville, N.Y.) drained a three and Valdez banked home another layup to give the Blue Knights their biggest lead of the second half (51-39) at the 16:52 mark.

Trailing by twelve points, the home team would chip away at the Mount's lead over the course of the next nine minutes. The Dolphins outscored the Blue Knights, 28-10, during the stretch, and a three-pointer from junior Nick DiMaggio (Croton, N.Y.) at the 8:13 mark gave his team their first lead since the opening half (65-63). Freshman Joe Ecock (Brooklyn, N.Y.) extended the run and the lead with a four-point play that made the score 69-63 with just under eight minutes remaining. Mount Saint Vincent wouldn't trail again and captured an 83-77 conference win.

The Blue Knights were led by Valdez, who finished with a career-high 26 points and 13 rebounds. He was 12-for-17 from the field. Senior Chris Harrison (Baldwin, N.Y.) had another productive game, totaling 21 points and 12 rebounds for a double-double. The Blue Knights shot 37.5-percent in the second half and finished the game at 45.7-percent.

In addition to the 20 points from Johnson, Ecock finished with 17 points while freshman Kieran Halton (Manasquan, N.J.) chipped in with 13. The Dolphins connected at 53.3-percent after halftime and finished the day shooting 43.7-percent.

The Blue Knights fell to 3-16 overall and to 3-9 in the Skyline Conference, while the Dolphins improved to 11-7 and 9-3 in Skyline play.

Mount Saint Mary College will next be in action on Wednesday, February 4 against Skyline Conference opponent, Polytechnic Institute of NYU. The game is one of only two home contests for the month of February. The tip is set for 8:00 p.m., and it will serve as the back-end of a women's and men's basketball doubleheader starting at 6:00 p.m.