Newburgh, N.Y. – The Mount Saint Mary College Men's Basketball team begins the 2018-19 season with a three-game homestand on Tuesday night against Manhattanville. Tip-off with the Valiants is scheduled for 8:00 p.m. with live stats and video available for those who cannot attend the contest.
A Look At The Knights: Mount Saint Mary posted a 13-13 overall record and a 13-7 mark in Skyline Conference play a season ago.
Mount Saint Mary welcomes back 11 players from last season's roster, after losing the top three scorers from a season ago.
Backcourt: A crowded position group welcomes back eight returners and adds one newcomer for the 18-19 campaign.
Junior
Kendall Francis (Great Neck, N.Y.) is the top returner in points with 9.2, adding 2.1 rebounds, 26 assists and 20 steals.
Connor Bacci (Bayside, N.Y.), the lone senior on the roster, appeared in 24 games last season, averaging 5.3 points and 3.9 rebounds to go along with 40 assists. He also led the team in steals with 27.
Mount Saint Mary welcomes back three other juniors in the backcourt with
Jovin Ramos (Secaucus, N.J.),
Tristan Millett (Allentown, N.J.),
George Greene (Hanover, Md.), along with sophomores
Paul Sienke (Washington, D.C.),
Isaiah Robinson (Garfield, N.J.),
Jameson Morton (Shandaken, N.Y.) and
Nick Lucas (Sparta, N.J.).
Jaiden Melendez (Lebanon, P.A.) is the lone newcomer at the guard position this season.
Frontcourt: The Knights return only two players in the front court in sophomores
Ethan Fox (Wallingford, C.T.) and
Dominick Arcodia (Valley Stream, C.T.) to go along with newcomers
Jonah Hillard (Brooklyn, N.Y.),
Zack Swaby (New Windsor, N.Y.),
Jacob Coston (New Windsor, N.Y.),
Ryan Purcell (Middletown, N.J.) and
Chris Mikos (Freehold, N.J.).
Fox appeared in 24 games, averaging 1.3 points and 1.2 rebounds in limited minutes for the Mount. He was the team's blocks leader with 12.
A Look at Manhattanville: The Valiants are undefeated at 3-0 on the season following a 110-73 victory over Maritime, as well as taking a pair of games in the AJ Buchanan Classic. They defeated St. Joseph's-Brooklyn on Saturday, 103-82, and Oglethorpe on Sunday, 82-73.
Sean Smith Jr. is the leading scorer for the Manhattanville with 22 points per game on 54 percent shooting. Jojo Cobbs has 15 points per night on 49 percent shooting and Mike Granda is the third double digit scorer with 10.7 points per game on 53 percent shooting.
Smith Jr. is also the leading rebounder, averaging 9.3 per game. Connor Yetman is second with 8.3 and Chris Brown is third with 5.7. Granda is the lead assist man with 14 with Cobbs having 12. Petey Galgano has seven steals on the year and Cory Madden has six. Brown leads the team in blocks with four.
The Valiants are shooting 51 percent as a team from the field and 41 percent from the three-point line. In the three games, they are averaging 98 points per game and outscoring their opponents by better than 20 points per contest.
Preseason Poll: The Knights have been picked to finish eighth in the Skyline Conference Preseason Poll, garnering 44 points. Yeshiva sits atop the rankings with 95 points, with Farmingdale State (93), Purchase (70), Old Westbury (70) and St. Joseph's-Brooklyn (62) rounding out the top five.
The Schedule: After the season opener against Manhattanville, the Mount will play its next two games at home, including conference opener against Yeshiva. The Knights take on Christopher Newport and an opponent to be determined in mid-December in Newport News, VA. as part of Captains Shootout. The Mount plays 12 games in Newburgh during the regular season including the season finale against conference rival USMMA.
What's Next: The Knights finish a three game home stand following Thanksgiving on November 26 against Hunter College and concludes on November 29 against Yeshiva.
