Newburgh, N.Y. – The Mount Saint Mary College Men's Basketball team featured four players in double-figures and shot 63.3-percent from the floor in the second half on its way to a 83-60 Skyline Conference victory over Sarah Lawrence on Thursday night. Junior Connor Nicholson (Staten Island, N.Y.) netted a game-high 18 points and freshman Connor Bacci (Bayside, N.Y.) finished up with a career-high 12 points for the Knights.
 
Mount Saint Mary struggled to pull away from the visiting Gryphons in the opening period on Thursday and fell behind by as many as four points on three occasions in the late stages of the first half. The Knights held the lead just three times in the opening 20 minutes and needed a three-pointer from Bacci in the closing seconds of the half to head to the intermission tied 30-30.
 
Although the Knights shot an efficient 50-percent from the floor in the first half, they went just 2-for-8 from the free-throw line and surrendered nine offensive rebounds leading to 10 second chance points for the visitors. Bacci scored 11 points in the first frame, going 4-for-5 from the floor and a perfect 3-fofr-3 from three-point range.
 
After the two teams traded buckets coming out of the break, the Knights took control of the game with a 20-4 run covering over seven minutes to pull in front 52-36 with just under 12 minutes left in regulation. The Knights went 8-for-12 overall during the stretch, including 4-for-5 from behind the arc, to break the game open. Nicholson scored 12 of his 18 points over the seven minutes, twenty three second run.
 
Mount Saint Mary would not allow Sarah Lawrence closer than 13 points the remainder of the contest and broke open its largest lead of the game, a 30 point bulge, twice in the final 4:15. A Bacci free-throw moved the Mount in front 74-44 at the 4:15 mark and a Mike Stoeckel (Washingtonville, N.Y.) conversion with 3:24 left pushed the Knights in front 77-47.
 
The Knights finished the second half 19-for-30 from the floor and 6-for-9 from behind the arc in pulling away from the Gryphons. The Mount finished the game converting at a season-best 57.4-percent and also a season-high 55.6-percent from behind the arc, knocking in 10 triples in a game for the third time this season.
 
Nicholson closed out the night 8-for-12 from the floor, hitting a pair of triples, in reaching double-figures for the third time this season. Bacci scored in double-figures for the first time in his career, rounding out the night 4-for-6 from the floor to go along with two rebounds and an assist.
 
Junior Gerard Nocera (Holmdel, N.J.) scored 12 second half points and Daniel Wolff (Holtsville, N.Y.) scored 10 points and handed out three assists. Tyler McDine (Suffern, N.Y.) led all players with five assists with T.J. Patsalos (Newburgh, N.Y.) leading the team with six rebounds, adding seven points.
 
Sarah Lawrence was led by 12 points each from Austin Jones and Stevan Radosavljevic with Parker Hagmaier leading all players with a game-high 11 rebounds.
 
Thursday's win pushes Mount Saint Mary to 5-7 overall on the season and to 3-5 against Skyline Conference opponents. The Knights will return to action on Saturday when they travel to Old Westbury. Tip-off with the Panthers is scheduled for 12:00 p.m.

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