Newburgh, N.Y. – Sophomore Gerard Nocera (Holmdel, N.J.) led four players in double-figures with a season-high 20 points, but it was not enough as the Mount Saint Mary College Men's Basketball team suffered its fifth straight loss on Saturday with a 91-86 defeat at the hands of league rival Maritime.
 
The game featured nine ties and 10 lead changes with Maritime holding the largest lead of the first half, a seven point advantage on three occasions. After the Privateers jumped in front 26-19 with just shy of nine minutes left before halftime, the Knights used an 8-0 spurt to move in front 27-26 on a Jason Oder (Levittown, N.Y.) three-pointer.
 
Mount Saint Mary would not trail again until a Patrick MacDonald conversion with 2:24 left in the opening stanza and later fell behind 35-31 following a Michael Walker triple with 1:55 left in the half.
 
The Knights would pull back in front 36-35 on a Daniel Wolff (Holtsville, N.Y.) bucket with 32 seconds left and carried a 39-37 lead into halftime following a Nocera three-pointer with six ticks left on the first half clock. Nocera finished the opening 20 minutes with eight points, including a pair of triples.
 
Mount Saint Mary finished the opening period shooting just under 39-percent, making one more field goal and two more three-pointers than Maritime. The Privateers converted at 40.6-percent and were led by 10 first half points from MacDonald.
 
Mount Saint Mary built its lead to double-figures at the 13:07 mark of the second half when Oder drilled a three-pointer in transition to move the Knights in front 59-49 and later took a game-high 15 point lead on a pair of Connor Nicholson (Staten Island, N.Y.) free-throws with 11:32 remaining in regulation.
 
Following the Nicholson free-throws, Mount Saint Mary went without a point until the 6:05 mark of the second half and without a field goal until a Nocera conversion with 4:11 left in the game. Maritime used a 19-2 run to claim a 70-68 lead on a MacDonald bucket with 5:31 left to play and would not trail again on the afternoon.
 
The Knights would climb to within a single point twice over the final four minutes of regulation, but Maritime went 4-for-5 from the floor and 11-for-14 from the free-throw line over the same stretch to sneak away with the victory.
 
Maritime shot an efficient 60.7-percent from the floor after halftime and got 20 points and nine rebounds from MacDonald in the final 20 minutes. The Privateers went 17-for-28 from the floor after halftime and outscored the Knights by 10 points in the paint in the second half.
 
Nocera paced the Knights with 12 second half points and rounded out the game 8-for-18 from the floor with three triples. He chipped in with five rebounds and a team-high three steals in the game. After not reaching double-figures for eight games, Nocera is averaging 16 points over his last two outings.
 
Sophomore Tyler McDine (Suffern, N.Y.) added 10 points on the strength of an 8-for-11 effort from the free-throw line to go along with six assists, while Wolff totaled 16 points on 7-for-14 shooting for the Knights. Wolff led the team in rebounding with six caroms in the game. Nicholson came off the bench to chip in 13 points, hitting a pair of threes in the game.
 
MacDonald led all scorers for Maritime with 30 points and added a game-high 16 rebounds. He went 11-for-15 from the floor and 8-for-9 from the charity stripe for the Privateers. Isaiah Hayes narrowly missed a triple-double, finishing with 19 points, 10 assists and nine rebounds.
 
Maritime rounded out the game shooting an even 50-percent from the floor and converted 25 of its 35 free-throw attempts. The Privateers outscored the Mount in the paint 44-32 and in second chance scoring 14-8.
 
Mount Saint Mary rounded out the day shooting just under 42-percent from the floor and went 10-for-28 from behind the arc. It marked the fourth time this season the Knights have canned 10 triples in a game.
 
Saturday's loss drops Mount Saint Mary to 7-16 overall on the season and to 5-13 against league rivals. The Knights will close out the home schedule on Wednesday when they welcome Purchase to the Kaplan Center. Tip-off with the Panthers is scheduled for 8:00 p.m.

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