Newburgh, N.Y. - The Mount Saint Mary College Men's Basketball team suffered its third straight loss and its fourth defeat in its last five outings on Tuesday night following a 69-52 conference loss to Old Westbury. Sophomore Gerard Nocera (Holmdel, N.J.) led the Knights with 14 points, with Tyler McDine (Suffern, N.Y.) chipping in with 13 tallies.

After falling behind 4-3 in the early going on Tuesday, the Knights used a 13-5 spurt to move in front 16-9 with just over seven minutes left in the first half. McDine started the stretch with a three-pointer and freshman T.J. Patsalos (Newburgh, N.Y.) capped the run with a lay-in with 7:17 left before halftime.

Old Westbury would battle back to move in front 17-16 late in the opening period, before Mount Saint Mary closed the half on an 8-2 run to carry a 24-19 lead into the intermission. A Nocera conversion moved the Knights in front 19-17 before a McDine triple matched the Knights' largest lead of the half with five seconds remaining before the break.

Both team struggled from the floor in the opening 20 minutes, with the Knights shooting just over 28-percent from the floor prior to the break. The Knights knocked in five three-point field goals in the first half, led by a 2-for-2 effort from McDine, who led the team with six first half points.

Coming out of halftime, Old Westbury quickly jumped in front of Mount Saint Mary after scoring the first nine points of the second half. The game would be played inside a five point window until a second 9-0 stretch moved the Panthers in front 42-31 with just under 12 minutes left in the contest.

Mount Saint Mary would cut its disadvantage to five points on a McDine conversion with 8:16 left in the second half, but Old Westbury ballooned its lead to a game-high 19 points on a pair of Lylle Ryals free-throws in the final 37 seconds.

Old Westbury shot 46.4-percent from the field after halftime and held the Knights to 24.2-percent shooting. The Panthers added five three-pointers in the second half and went 19-for-22 from the free-throw line, including eight makes in the final 92 seconds to secure the win.

Nocera finished the game 5-for-14 from the floor in the game, adding a pair of rebounds and a steal for the Knights. McDine reached double-figures for the fourth straight game after going 4-for-9 from the floor, chipping in with four rebounds and pair of assists.

Daniel Wolff (Holtsville, N.Y.) led the Knights with eight rebounds and three assists, with senior Stephen Steyer (Staten Island, N.Y.) chipping in with six boards for Mount Saint Mary.

Old Westbury was led by a game-high 18 points from Jamail Stanley and received 15 points from Stephon Odle. Stanley closed out a double-double with a game-high 11 rebounds for the Panthers.

For the game, Mount Saint Mary shot 26.2-percent from the floor and was outscored by 10 in the paint on Tuesday. Old Westbury finished the game shooting just shy of 40-percent and went 19-for-23 from the free-throw line.

Tuesday's loss drops Mount Saint Mary to 3-5 overall on the season and to 1-4 in Skyline Conference play. The Knights will return to action on Sunday when they head to Maritime for a 1:00 p.m. tip-off with the Privateers.

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