Box Score MANHATTAN, N.Y. – The Mount Saint Mary College men's basketball team closed first semester play on a high-note with an 87-76 victory over John Jay College of Criminal Justice in non-conference action Friday night.  The Knights improved to 5-3 overall, while the Bloodhounds fell back to 5-4.

Mount Saint Mary seized control of the opening half with a 9-0 run, which was capped by a three-pointer from junior Lenny Ragaglia (Staten Island, N.Y.) at the 13:38 mark.  John Jay cut the lead back to eight as the clock dipped under ten minutes, but the Knights put together a 10-0 run to seize a 35-17 advantage.  Maintaining a double-digit cushion for the rest of the half, the Mount went to the locker room leading 45-30.  Senior Carlos Valdez (Carolina, Puerto Rico) had 16 points and eight rebounds in the opening 20 minutes.

The Knights led comfortably for most of the second half, but John Jay would creep to within ten on a three-pointer from senior Joseph Padell (Staten Island, N.Y.) with 3:56 to play.  Valdez answered with back-to-back buckets, including a dunk at 2:59, to push the lead back to 14.  The Bloodhounds would get to within eight inside the final 90 seconds, but never really threatened and the Knights went on to the 87-76 victory.

Valdez led the Mount with 22 points on 8-of-12 from the field.  He also added a game-high 16 rebounds to go along with three assists.  Ragaglia found the range from three-point land, connecting on 6-of-8 attempts for 18 points.  Sophomore Joe Stabach (Staten Island, N.Y.) also reached double figures with 12 points.

For the Bloodhounds, senior Jerome Alexander (Brooklyn, N.Y.) hit on 12-of-25 from the field to finish with a game-high 32 points.  Sophomore Jamar Harry (Brooklyn, N.Y.) was the only other player to reach double figures and totaled 10 points.

The Knights shot 53.6-percent from the field and were able to overcome 25 turnovers.  John Jay committed 24 turnovers, shot 43.3-percent from the field, and connected on just 3-of-16 from beyond the arc.

Mount Saint Mary will not play again until the New Year, when they'll play a pair of games in California.  The Knights will challenge Claremont-Mudd Scripps on January 2 before playing the California Institute of Technology on January 3.