Newburgh, N.Y. – Freshman T.J. Patsalos (Newburgh, N.Y.) recorded his second straight double-double, including a career-high 17 points, and was one of four players to score in double-figures in Mount Saint Mary's convincing 77-59 home conference win over St. Joseph's-L.I. on Saturday afternoon.
 
Following three ties in the early going on Saturday, the Knights found themselves trailing the visitors 25-17 following a C.J. Capilets three-pointer with 7:49 left in the first half. The Golden Eagles maintained the advantage until an 8-0 Mount Saint Mary run, capped by a Connor Nicholson (Staten Island, N.Y.) jumper, knotted the score for the fourth time in the first half.
 
St. Joseph's quickly regained the lead on a Dominique Spann triple, before the Mount closed the first half on an 11-3 run to carry a 36-31 advantage into the intermission. The Knights took their first lead of the game, an advantage they would not surrender, on a Connor Bacci (Bayside, N.Y.) conversion with just under three minutes left before the break. The Mount allowed just three points, a Fernando Vazquez three at the horn, over the final 3:26 of the first half.
 
Despite shooting just 38.9-percent from the floor in the opening period, the Knights held the visitors to just 3-for-12 shooting from behind the arc and outscored St. Joseph's 6-2 from the free-throw line. Daniel Wolff (Holtsville, N.Y.) led the Knights at the break with 11 points on 4-for-6 shooting.
 
The Mount grabbed its first double-digit lead of the game on a Gerard Nocera (Holmdel, N.J.) bucket inside the first two minutes of the second half and moved in front 45-31 on a Nocera triple with 16:39 left in regulation time.
 
St. Joseph's used a 12-2 run to slice its disadvantage to 47-43 on a Stephen Cohen triple with 12:12 left in the contest. Mount Saint Mary answered with a 13-2 stretch to regain a 15 point advantage on a Stephen Steyer (Staten Island, N.Y.) bucket with just over seven minutes left in the game.
 
The Golden Eagles would climb to within nine points with 6:12 left to play, before the Knights ran out to their largest lead of the game, a 22 point lead at 76-54, on a pair of Tyler McDine (Suffern, N.Y.) free-throws in the final 36 seconds of the game.
 
Mount Saint Mary shot an efficient 62.5-percent after halftime, going 15-for-24 from the floor. The visitors were held to 30.3-percent from the floor in the second stanza and went 5-for-17 from behind the arc.
 
Patsalos led four Mount Saint Mary players in double-figures with a game-high 17 points on 8-for-14 shooting and matched his career mark for rebounds in the game with 10. Steyer and Wolff each chipped in with 13 points for the Knights, with Steyer swiping four steals.  McDine finished up with 11 points and a game-high five assists.
 
Bacci rounded out the day with nine points for the Mount off the bench to go along with five rebounds, with Nicholson finishing up with six points. The duo combined for 15 of the team's 18 bench points on the day.
 
Mount Saint Mary finished the day shooting 48.3-percent from the floor and outscored St. Joseph's 32-24 in the paint and 17-10 in points off of miscues.
 
Saturday's win moves Mount Saint Mary to 6-9 overall on the season and to 4-7 in league play. Next up for the Knights is a home date with Mount Saint Vincent on January 20. Tip-off with the Dolphins is scheduled for 8:00 p.m.

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