Newburgh, N.Y. – Senior Tyler McDine (Suffern, N.Y.) led four players in double-figures with a game-high 23 points, but the Mount Saint Mary College Men's Basketball team dropped a hard fought 84-81 non-conference decision to SUNY Potsdam on Tuesday in its home opener.
 
In a back-and-forth first half, the Mount moved in front 15-9 on a Tristan Millett (Allentown, N.J.) lay-in just over eight minutes into the contest. The Knights would hold the advantage until a Dante Viskovich lay-in off a steal capped a quick 8-0 run from the Bears and pushed them in front 17-15.
 
The Knights answered with an Isaiah Robinson (Garfield, N.J.) triple to regain the lead and spread its lead back to six points, at 29-23, on a pair of Connor Bacci (Bayside, N.Y.) free-throws with over seven minutes left before halftime.
 
The Bears again rallied with an 8-0 stretch to move back in front 33-31, but the Knights finished the half with the final nine points, holding the Bears without a field goal for the final 4:43 of the half, to carry a 43-35 lead into the intermission.
 
Both teams shot better than 40-percent overall in the opening 20 minutes, with the Knights converting at a 41.9-percent rate. The Bears made four three-pointers in the first half, but the Mount outscored Potsdam 14-7 from the free-throw line. Bacci led all scored prior to halftime with 12 points, going 3-fof-5 from the floor and 6-for-9 from the free-throw line.
 
Potsdam came out of the break and posted an 11-0 run, highlighted by back-to-back three-pointers from Nosa Onabor and Colby Simpson, on its way to moving back in front 46-43 with 17:19 left to play in the second frame.
 
The two teams would go back-and-forth again, with the Mount jumping in front by four on a Gerard Nocera (Holmdel, N.J.) three-pointer and Potsdam answering and moving in front by four on a triple from Danny Delsol-Lowry with just over nine minutes to play in regulation.
 
The Bears would hold a lead as large as five points following a pair of Serigne Kane free-throws with 5:42 left in the game, before the Mount rallied again and knotted the score at 78-78 on a Nocera lay-in with 1:38 left to play.
 
Two Onabor conversions from the charity stripe with 60 seconds left in the game provided the final lead change as the Mount went 1-for-4 from the line with chances to tie the score in the final minute. Dante Langley converted the final free-throw of the night with under a second left to seal the win for the visitors.
 
McDine closed a strong night 9-for-14 from the floor, including a 4-for-5 effort from three-point range, as he missed matching his career-high by a single point. He finished off the night with five rebounds and a pair of assists.
 
Bacci poured in a career-high 17 points on Tuesday, going 11-for-15 from the free-throw line, adding seven rebounds. Nocera finished with 13 points and a team-high eight rebounds, while Daniel Wolff (Holtsville, N.Y.) chipped in 10 points, three rebounds and a pair of assists.
 
Delsol-Lowry led Potsdam with 14 points and joined Aaron Armstrong with four assists, while Onabor and Viskovich each posted 13 points. Delsol-Lowry led the Bears with eight rebounds and added a pair of steals.
 
The Knights shot 42.6-percent overall and hit seven three-pointers, but went just 22-for-35 from the free-throw line. Potsdam shot 45.6-percent overall with 12 triples, including eight after halftime.
 
At 0-2 overall on the season, Mount Saint Mary opens the Skyline Conference schedule on November 28 when it welcomes Purchase to the Kaplan Center. Tip-off with the Panthers is scheduled for 8:00 p.m.