Brooklyn, N.Y. – Junior
Gerard Nocera (Holmdel, N.J.) led a balanced scoring attack that featured six different players with at least nine points as the Mount Saint Mary College Men's Basketball team stopped a two game skid with a 75-54 road Skyline Conference win at St. Joseph's-Brooklyn Wednesday night.
Mount Saint Mary trailed much of the first half and fell behind by as many as eight points after an Anthony Iglesias three-pointer with 7:22 left in the opening frame. After falling behind 24-16, the Knights used an 11-0 spurt keyed by a pair of
Connor Nicholson (Staten Island, N.Y.) three-pointers, with the second triple moving the Mount in front 25-24. Nocera followed with a dunk in transition to give the Knights a 27-24 advantage with 3:55 left before halftime.
St. Joseph's knotted the score at 27-27 on a Dimitri Sirakis three-pointer, but the Mount finished the half on a 6-2 spurt that featured three different scorers as the Knights carried a 33-29 lead into the intermission.
The Knights shot 48.1-percent from the floor overall in the first half and knocked in five three-pointers, including a 2-for-3 effort from behind the arc from Nicholson. Six different players found the scoring column before halftime, led by nine first half points from Nocera.
Mount Saint Mary maintained the lead throughout the second half and broke the game open with an 18-3 run taking better than eight minutes off the clock to move in front 53-35. The Mount moved the lead to 21 points on a
Connor Bacci (Bayside, N.Y.) jumper with 9:30 left in regulation and took its largest lead of the night, a 73-48 bulge, on a Nocera triple with just under four minutes left in the game.
The Knights shot nearly 52-percent from the floor after halftime on their way to converting at an even 50-percent for the game. The Mount went 8-for-14 from behind the arc in the game and outscored the Bears 34-10 in the paint.
Nocera finished 7-for-9 from the floor in the game, knocking in two three-pointers, and added a career-high 13 rebounds to his game-high 16 points for his second double-double of the season. He closed out a strong night with five helpers and a pair of steals.
Nicholson and
Jason Jones (Lansdale, Pa.) each chipped in with 10 points, with Jones adding six rebounds, three assists and a block in the win.
T.J. Patsalos (Newburgh, N.Y.),
Tyler McDine (Suffern, N.Y.) and
Jovin Ramos (Secaucus, N.J.) each contributed nine points, with McDine handing out three assists for the Knights.
Mount Saint Mary held St. Joseph's to 31.6-percent shooting and although the Bears knocked in 10 three-pointers finished at 30.3-percent from behind the arc.
Wednesday win pushes Mount Saint Mary to 10-6 overall on the season and to 5-3 in Skyline Conference play. Next up for the Knights is a trip to the College of Mount Saint Vincent on Saturday afternoon. Tip-off with the Dolphins is scheduled for 1:00 p.m.
