Scranton, Pa. – The Mount Saint Mary College Men's Basketball team closed out play in the first semester on Wednesday night with a 78-59 road non-conference loss at Marywood. Sophomore Daniel Wolff (Holtsville, N.Y.) led the Knights with 11 points and eight rebounds.
 
The lead changed hands just twice on Wednesday, with the Knights taking a pair of one point leads in the opening minutes. T.J. Patsalos (Newburgh, N.Y.) gave the Knights at 5-4 lead just over two minutes into the game and Gerard Nocera (Holmdel, N.J.) gave the Mount its final advantage of game when he converted at the 15:15 mark of the first half to give the Knights a 7-6 lead.
 
The Pacers used seven straight points to move in front 19-9 with just under nine minutes left before halftime and matched their largest lead of the half, at 15 points, on a Shane Letthand conversion with one second left in the period that sent Marywood into the break with a 34-19 lead.
 
Mount Saint Mary was held to 25-percent shooting before halftime overall, including a 3-for-14 effort from behind the arc. The Knights, who entered the game shooting 73.1-percent as a team from the free-throw line, went just 2-for-12 from the charity stripe in the opening stanza on Wednesday.
 
The Mount would get its deficit down to 36-26 on a Wolff triple early in the second period, but Marywood would rip off the next 10 points to move in front by 20 on a Connor Shroyer three-pointer with 14:32 left in regulation.
 
The Knights would cut its disadvantage to 13 points on a Connor Nicholson (Staten Island, N.Y.) free-throw with just over five minutes left in the game, but Marywood quickly spread its lead back to 20 points on a James Curley conversion with 4:27 left. The Pacers would lead by as many as 24 points in the second half.
 
Mount Saint Mary shot 31.3-percent from the floor in the game and was held to sub-40-percent shooting for the seventh time this season and for the fifth time in its last six games. The Knights shot 75-percent from the free-throw line after halftime, but finished the game shooting a season-low 45.8-percent from the charity stripe.
 
Wolff reached double-figures in scoring for the sixth time this season, going 5-for-8 from the floor, adding a team-high eight boards and a pair of steals. Nocera and Nicholson each chipped in with nine points, with Nicholson adding two steals.
 
Patsalos contributed eight points and five rebounds for the Knights with sophomore Tyler McDine (Suffern, N.Y.) handing out a team-high five assists. Freshman Connor Bacci (Bayside, N.Y.) recorded a team-high three steals and added three assists.
 
Marywood, who shot 45.9-percent as a team, was led by a game-high 22 points from Shroyer who added eight rebounds. Letthand finished with 15 points and Curley chipped in with 10 points. Tip Swartz led all players with six assists on Wednesday.
 
Wednesday's loss drops Mount Saint Mary to 4-6 overall on the season. The Knights will be off until January 4 when they return to conference play against Farmingdale State. Tip-off with the Rams at the Kaplan Center is set for 7:00 p.m.

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