Newburgh, N.Y. – Sophomore Tyler McDine (Suffern, N.Y.) led three Knights in double-figures with 19 points, but the Mount Saint Mary College Men's Basketball team came up short to league rival Sage on Wednesday by a score of 78-70.
 
The Knights ran out to a 10-4 advantage on a Jason Jones (Lansdale, Pa.) bucket 5:10 into the contest, but the Gators strung together a 9-0 stretch to move in front 13-10 on a Brett Ullman jumper at the 10:18 mark of the first half.
 
Following a Daniel Wolff (Holtsville, N.Y.) bucket to get the Mount back to within a point, the Gators used a 19-6 run, covering 6:20, to jump out to a 32-18 lead. The Gators went 8-for-11 from the floor over the run and featured five different scorers, led by six points from Rob Mills.
 
The Knights would get back to within 10 heading into the break with lay-ins from Gerard Nocera (Holmdel, N.J.) and Connor Bacci (Bayside, N.Y.) cutting the Sage halftime advantage to 34-24.
 
Sage shot just shy of 48-percent from the floor in the first half, converting three more field goals and four more three-pointers in the opening period than the Knights. Ullman led all scorers in the half with eight points, with McDine leading the Knights with six points.
 
The Gators maintained a comfortable lead for much of the second half, including a game-high 16 point advantage following a pair of Marcus Patterson free-throws with 5:52 left in regulation time.
 
Trailing 64-48, Mount Saint Mary put together a 16-4 run covering just under four minutes to slash the Sage advantage to just 68-64 with 1:55 left in the contest. Jones knocked in a pair of three-pointers to start the run and McDine scored five points for the Knights.
 
The four point disadvantage would be as close as the Knights would get the remainder of the night, as Sage outscored the Mount by four, going 2-for-3 from the field and 6-for-9 from the free-throw line, over the final 1:45 of regulation.
 
Sage shot an efficient 64-percent in the second half, but the Mount outscored the Gators by 11 from the free-throw line in the second half to remain within reach. McDine went 9-for-9 from the line on his way to 13 second half points.
 
McDine finished the game with 19 points, just one off his career-high, and knocked in a career-high 11 free-throws, going a perfect 11-for-11 in the game. He added six rebounds and four assists in the game for the Mount.
 
Jones continued his strong start to the season on Wednesday with 15 points, with Nocera rounding out a trio in double-figures with 11 points.
 
Melvin Ford led a balanced scoring attack for Sage with a game-high 20 points, adding a game-high nine rebounds. The Gators finished the game shooting better than 54-percent and assisted on 21 of their 30 makes in the contest.
 
Mount Saint Mary closed the game shooting just shy of 38-percent and made 23 of its 26 free-throw attempts in the game, outscoring Sage from the line 23-12.
 
Wednesday's loss drops Mount Saint Mary back to the .500 mark at 3-3 overall and to 1-2 in conference play. The Knights will return to action on Saturday when they travel to Riverdale to take on Mount Saint Vincent. Tip-off is scheduled for 3:00 p.m.

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