NEWBURGH, NY – Mount Saint Mary College freshman Carlos Valdez (Slate Hill, N.Y.) led the Blue Knights with 25 points as the men's basketball team closed out their 2008-2009 campaign with a 77-72 come-from-behind victory over the visiting SUNY College at Old Westbury Panthers Saturday afternoon in front of a near-capacity crowd at the Kaplan Center. The Mount ends its season with an overall record of 7-18 and a 7-11 mark in the Skyline Conference, while Old Westbury drops to 11-14 overall and 10-8 in the conference.

On senior day, the team's five seniors, Rich McWalters (Bayville, N.Y.), Matt Cunningham (Roswell, Ga.), Alex Kuchar (Rutherford, N.J.), Chris Harrison (Baldwin, N.Y.) and Andy Harte (Warner, N.H.), were recognized for their accomplishments before the game. With 18:34 left in the opening half, McWalters drained a triple to give his team an early 3-0 lead. The Panthers responded with the next eight points to take a five point advantage. Cunningham would answer the Panther run with another triple to cut the lead back to two. With his team trailing 28-15 with over nine minutes to play in the first half, Valdez started a 19-6 run to get the Blue Knights within one point (35-34). Harrison gave his team the lead when he drained a layup in the paint to give the Mount a 36-35 advantage at the intermission. Valdez led the Blue Knights with 10 first-half points, while Old Westbury junior Bill Reese (Selma, Ala.) led all scorers with 11.

Reese opened the second half with a triple to recapture the advantage for the Panthers. Old Westbury would extend their advantage to as many as 12 points before a resilient Mount Saint Mary squad began to chip away. Thanks in large part to the enthusiastic Kaplan Center faithful, the Blue Knights rallied to within two points over the course of the next several minutes. With sophomore Matt Weinberger (Washingtonville, N.Y.) headed to the line at the 7:33 mark, the Mount called a timeout to settle things down. Weinberger calmly drained the two free throws to tie the ball game at 62. After a scoreless stretch of two minutes and thirteen seconds, Weinberger hit a jumper and then Cunningham followed with a three-pointer to give the Mount a 67-62 advantage. Old Westbury would close to within three points, but the Blue Knights took care of their free throws down the stretch to earn a season-ending victory.

Valdez shot 9-for-14 from the field and 7-of-10 from the free throw line to finish with a game high 25 points. Kuchar finished his day with 16 points on 5-for-12 shooting and 4-of-5 from the line. Cunningham chipped in with 14 points in his final collegiate game, while Weinberger tallied 13 points to go along with 11 assists. The Mount shot 44.3-percent during the contest.

It was also the last collegiate game for Chris Harrison, who collected 14 rebounds despite not being able to jump off of two feet due to an injured foot. He finished with four points to bring his career total to 1,035 points. His teammate, Alex Kuchar, finished his four-year career with 1,734 points.

Reese led Old Westbury with 21 points on 6-of-10 shooting and 5-of-7 from the free throw line. His teammate, sophomore Lester Prosper (Bellmore, N.Y.), had a double-double with 18 points and 14 rebounds. Junior Kris Afum (Bronx, N.Y.) and junior Shane DeNully (Bronx, N.Y.) each totaled 11 points in the losing effort.

The Panthers head to the Skyline Conference tournament where they will take on Purchase College in a first round tilt on Tuesday evening.