Throggs Neck, N.Y. – Junior guard Connor Nicholson (Staten Island, N.Y.) and freshman T.J. Patsalos (Newburgh, N.Y.) each matched their career-highs in scoring and sophomore Tyler McDine (Suffern, N.Y.) converted a free-throw in the closing seconds as the Mount Saint Mary Men's Basketball team snapped a three game slide on Sunday with a 79-78 road win at Maritime.
 
Maritime got off to a quick start in the game, scoring the first five points of the afternoon, before the Mount battled back with a 12-5 stretch to even the score at 12-12 on a three ball from Nicholson with just over six minutes into the first half.
 
Mount Saint Mary would use an 11-0 spurt later in the half to take its largest lead of the game with 9:50 left before the break. Nicholson hit a pair of triples over the run and scored eight points for the Knights in the run that gave them a 26-14 lead.
 
Maritime answered the Mount Saint Mary by scoring the final four points of the half to head into the intermission with a 40-38 lead. John Liccese tied the score with a pair of free-throws with 50 ticks left, before Brendon Halligan closed out the scoring in the first half with a lay-in with 14 seconds left in the period.
 
Maritime shot just shy of 52-percent from the floor in the first period and showed three players in double-figures at the break. Liccese led Maritime with 11 points with Isaiah Hayes producing 10 points and 10 rebounds.
 
Mount Saint Mary converted at a 41.9-percent clip prior to the break and went 6-for-13 from behind the arc in the opening 20 minutes. Nicolson went 3-for-5 from distance on his way to 13 first half points for the Knights.
 
Maritime spread its lead back to five points on a three-pointer from Liccese coming out of halftime, but the Knights used a quick 6-0 run to pull back in front 44-43 on a Daniel Wolff (Holtsville, N.Y.) free-throw.
 
The Knights pushed their lead to 51-45 on a Gerard Nocera (Holmdel, N.J.) triple with 15:51 left in regulation, before grabbing their largest lead of the second half, a 65-57 advantage, on a Patsalos jumper with 9:26 remaining in the game.
 
Mount Saint Mary would remain in front until the final minute on Sunday when Maritime pulled even at 78-78 on a Patrick MacDonald free-throw with 53 seconds left. The Knights, who went without a field goal after a Nocera conversion with 2:48 left in the second half, got the deciding point when McDine went 1-for-2 at the free-throw line with two seconds showing on the clock.
 
The Knights shot 51.7-percent in the second half, with Nocera going 4-for-7 from the floor with a pair of three-pointers and Patsalos going 5-for-6 and scoring all 10 of his points after the intermission. Nicholson added seven second half points for the Mount to reach 20 points in a game for the second time in his career.
 
Mount Saint Mary finished the game with four players in double-figures, led by 20 points from Nicholson who finished 7-for-13 from the floor overall and 4-for-8 from behind the arc. Nicholson and Patsalos combined for 30 of the team's 37 bench points in the game.
 
Nocera wrapped up the game 5-for-13 from the floor on his way to 16 points, while Wolff contributed 13 points and a team-high five rebounds. Stephen Steyer (Staten Island, N.Y.) handed out a team-high five assists and led the team with a pair of steals.
 
Maritime received a game-high 23 points from Liccese who added seven assists in the game. Hayes closed out a double-double with 15 points and 12 rebounds.
 
The Knights finished the game shooting 46.7-percent from the floor, their third highest percentage of the season. The Mount made nine triples in a game for the second time this season and held a 37-5 advantage in bench scoring and a 24-8 edge in points off of turnovers.
 
Sunday's win moves Mount Saint Mary to 4-5 overall on the season and to 2-4 in Skyline Conference play. The Knights will close out the first semester on Wednesday when they travel to Marywood. The non-conference contest is set for 7:00 p.m.

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