Brooklyn, N.Y. – The Mount Saint Mary College Men's Basketball team opened Skyline Conference play on Tuesday night with a hard fought 69-66 road loss at league newcomer St. Joseph's-Brooklyn. Sophomore Jason Jones (Lansdale, Pa.) led the Mount in scoring for the second straight game with 15 points.
 
The Knights lead throughout the first half on Tuesday, using a 5-0 run over the first 2:56 of the game to pull in front for good in the opening stanza. Jones connected on a three-point to move the Mount 5-0 and a Stephen Steyer (Staten Island, N.Y.) lay-in five minutes into the first half pushed the Mount's lead to 10-2.
 
Mount Saint Mary held a half-high lead of nine points on four occasions in the opening 20 minutes, before taking a 36-29 advantage into the break. Jones closed out the scoring in the half with another triple with just under two minutes remaining in the first period.
 
Jones went 2-for-3 from distance before halftime on his way to eight points for the Knights. Sophomore Daniel Wolff (Holtsville, N.Y.) led the Mount with nine points on 4-for-6 shooting in the first half with Tyler McDine (Suffern, N.Y.) assisting on four buckets in the opening 20 minutes.
 
The Knights shot 51.7-percent from the floor prior to halftime, including a 5-for-11 effort from behind the arc. The Bears, who were held to 35.3-percent shooting in the opening stanza, were led by six points each from Christian Giles and Justin Manon.
 
Coming out of halftime, Mount Saint Mary pushed its lead to 39-39 on a McDine three-point play just 29 ticks into the second period. Following the McDine conversion from the free-throw line, St. Joseph's went on an 18-6 run to take its first lead of the game on a Matt O'Neill bucket with 11:38 left in regulation time.
 
After the Knights tied the score at 47-47 on a Wolff lay-in, O'Neill gave the Bears the lead for good in the game with a three-pointer at the midway mark of the second half. St. Joseph's pulled in front by seven on a Michael Megafu tip-in, before the Knights scored 19 of the next 32 points to pull to within a point on a pair of Connor Bacci (Bayside, N.Y.) free-throws with 92 seconds left in the game.
 
The Bacci free-throws would be the final points of the night for the Mount, with St. Joseph's hitting two free-throws in the final 1:18 to hold on for the victory.
 
The Bears outscored the Knights by 10 points after halftime, converting four more field goals after the break. O'Neill scored 15 points after the break, going 6-for-11 from the floor, including three triples.
 
Jones finished the game 6-for-8 from the floor and 3-for-5 from distance on his way to the team-high point total to go along with eight rebounds. Wolff finished the night with 11 points with five rebounds and three assists. McDine handed out seven assists for the Knights and Jason Oder (Levittown, N.Y.) chipped in with nine points.
 
St. Joseph's was led by 17 points from O'Neill and got a double-double on 12 points and a game-high 10 rebounds from Megafu.
 
The Knights shot 49.1-percent for the game and finished 9-for-20 from three-point range. The Bears converted at 40.9-percent from the floor and used a 15-5 edge in offensive rebounds to outscore the Mount 16-6 in second chance points.
 
Tuesday's loss drops Mount Saint Mary back to .500 on the season at 2-2 overall and to 0-1 in conference play. The Knights return to action on November 30 when they play host to Yeshiva. Tip-off is set for 7:00 p.m.