Newburgh, N.Y. – The Mount Saint Mary College Men's Basketball team outscored visiting Sarah Lawrence 39-21 after halftime and received a team-high 22 points from junior Gerard Nocera (Holmdel, N.J.) on Wednesday night in a 64-52 home Skyline Conference victory over the Gryphons.
 
Sarah Lawrence opened a five point lead in the early going on Wednesday on an Austin Jones bucket and moved in front by a game-high nine points three times in the opening stanza, including on a Jones triple with 4:36 left before halftime that gave the Gryphons a 24-15 lead.
 
Mount Saint Mary would get back to within two points following a 9-2 run that took 3:38 off the clock late in the first half. The Knights held Sarah Lawrence to 1-for-6 shooting over the stretch and got five points from Nocera, but the Gryphons closed out the period scoring five of the final six points to take a 31-25 lead into the break.
 
Jones led all players at the break with 17 points on 7-for-8 shooting for Sarah Lawrence, as the Gryphons shot 34.4-percent from the floor and 3-for-13 from the three-point range. The Knights finished up the opening 20 minutes shooting 32.3-percent and got 10 first half points from Nocera.
 
The Gryphons spread their lead back out to seven points twice in the opening minutes of the second half, before the Knights used a 19-2 run over nearly seven minutes to open a 48-38 lead with 10:53 left in regulation. The Mount went 8-for-12 from the floor over the run and held the visitors to 1-for-10 shooting. Nocera scored nine points, with Daniel Wolff (Holtsville, N.Y.) and Tyler McDine (Suffern, N.Y.) each adding four points.
 
Sarah Lawrence cut its deficit down to five on a three-point play from Jones with just under seven minutes left to play, but an 11-2 stretch from the Knights capped by a Wolff bucket with 2:18 left gave the Mount a game-high 62-48 advantage.
 
The Knights shot 44.8-percent from the floor after halftime and held Sarah Lawrence to 29-percent shooting. The Knights outscored the Gryphons by 10 from the free-throw line in the second half an only turned the ball over four times.
 
Nocera reached 20 points for the third time in four games, finishing 9-for-15 from the floor to go along with five rebounds. Wolff rounded out the contest with 15 points and nine rebounds, with McDine posting six points, five rebounds, two assists and two steals. Jason Jones (Lansdale, Pa.) came off the bench to secure eight boards for the Knights.
 
Overall, Mount Saint Mary shot 38.3-percent from the floor and held Sarah Lawrence to a 31.7-percent effort. The Knights outscored the Gryphons 17-8 from the free-throw line and shot 68-percent from the stripe.
 
Wednesday's win gives the Knights six wins in their last seven outings and pushes them to 9-4 overall and 4-1 in league play. Next up for the Mount is a home date with Farmingdale State on January 17. Tip-off is set for 8:00 p.m.