Newburgh, N.Y. – The Mount Saint Mary College Men's Basketball team equaled its win total from a season ago and collected its fifth straight triumph on Wednesday night with a hard fought 56-50 win over the United States Merchant Marine Academy. Nine different Knights found the scoring column in the contest, led by 14 tallies from junior Gerard Nocera (Holmdel, N.J.).
 
After leading by as many as three points in the early stages of the contest, the Knights trailed for the final 13:29 of the opening period after a pair of Matt Miller free-throws gave the Mariners a 6-5 lead. USMMA would push its advantage to six points four times prior to halftime before carrying a 26-23 lead into the break.
 
Both teams shot under 40-percent from the floor in the opening 20 minutes with the Knights converting at 32.1-percent overall and 27.3-percent from the three-point line. The Knights also struggled from the free-throw line in the first half, converting just two of their eight attempts.
 
USMMA would maintain the advantage coming out of halftime until the 11:08 mark of the second stanza when a Connor Bacci (Bayside, N.Y.) three ball pushed the Knights in front 35-33. The Mariners answered with a triple from Robbie Kennedy to regain the lead and jumped in front by three points before one of three second half triples from Jason Jones (Lansdale, Pa.) knotted the score at 40-40 with 8:29 left in regulation.
 
Following a Miller bucket to give USMMA back a two point lead, Jones answered with his second three-pointer of the half to give the Knights back a one point advantage. The Mount remained in front until the 2:42 mark of the half when a Miller layup pushed the visitors back in front by a one at 50-49.
 
Nocera answered with a three-pointer to account for the final lead change of the game and a third Jones triple sealed the win for the Knights, giving them a 55-50 lead, with 25 ticks left in the second half.
 
Mount Saint Mary outscored USMMA 33-24 in the second half, hitting six three-pointers and shooting an even 40-percent from the floor overall. Nocera scored 11 points after halftime, with Jones going 3-for-4 from behind the arc to account for all nine of his points in the game.
 
Overall, Nocera went 4-for-9 from the floor, hitting a pair of triples, to go along with five rebounds and three assists. Connor Nicholson (Staten Island, N.Y.) scored nine points in the win, with Jones contributing four rebounds to his scoring output.
 
Bacci rounded out the night with seven points and a career-high eight rebounds, while freshman Jovin Ramos (Secaucus, N.J.) netted a career-high seven points off the bench. Tyler McDine (Suffern, N.Y.) closed out the game with six assists for the Knights.
 
USMMA was led by a game-high 19 points from Miller with Kennedy adding 16 points and six rebounds off the bench. David Washington led all players with 11 rebounds and four blocks on the night.
 
Mount Saint Mary finished the night shooting 35.8-percent from the floor and knocked in nine three-point field goals. The Mount turned over USMMA 16 times and transitioned the miscues into 18 points in the win.
 
At 8-3 overall on the season, Mount Saint Mary will return to action on Saturday when it travels to Maritime. Tip-off with the Privateers is scheduled for 1:00 p.m.