Riverdale, N.Y. – The Mount Saint Mary College Men's Basketball team went on the road to the College of Mount Saint Vincent on Friday and picked up a tough 59-55 road win over the Dolphins. Junior Kendall Francis (Great Neck, N.Y.) led the scoring attack with 20 points.
 
After falling behind 4-2 in the opening minute on Friday, the Knights used a 20-5 run covering four-and-a-half minutes to surge in front 22-9 with 13:22 left before halftime. The Knights went a perfect 7-for-7 from the floor over the run, including a pair of three-pointers, with Francis leading seven different scorers over the stretch with seven points.
 
The Dolphins responded with a 10-0 spurt to pull to within 22-19 on a Makai Johnson triple with 8:18 left before the break. The Mount never surrendered the lead before halftime and moved back in front 29-21 on a Francis lay-in before carrying a 29-26 lead into the intermission.
 
The Knights shot 41.7-percent from the floor in the opening stanza despite going just 2-for-9 from three-point range. Francis led all scorers at the break with 11 points, going 4-for-4 from the floor with a three-pointer and a pair of free-throws.
 
The Knights maintained the lead in the second half, moving in front 45-36 at the midway point of the period on a Francis lay-in. The Dolphins stormed back with a 13-2 run to grab their first lead since early in the first half on a Vinny Tavella bucket with just under six minutes left in regulation.
 
Mount Saint Mary quickly knotted the score at 49-49 on a Francis jumper, but found itself down by four points following a Jason Barerra jumper with 4:16 left in regulation time.
 
The Knights responded in strong fashion with 10 of the final 12 points over the final 4:06 of the second half. A Francis lay-up with 3:21 left moved the Mount in front for good in the game and the Knights went 5-for-6 from the free-throw line over the final half minute to secure the victory.
 
Francis added nine more points in the second half to finish with at least 20 points in a game for the fifth time this season. He rounded out the night 8-for-14 from the floor to go along with four rebounds and a pair of assists.
 
Jameson Morton (Woodstock, N.Y.) came off the bench to score 10 of the team's 15 bench points, going 6-for-7 from the charity stripe and adding five rebounds. Paul Sienke (Washington, D.C.) finished up with nine points and a team-high nine rebounds, while Connor Bacci (Bayside, N.Y.) handed out a team-high four assists to go along with four steals.
 
Mount Saint Vincent was led by 14 points from Barerra on 6-for-13 shooting, adding eight rebounds. Raiquis Harris totaled 10 points for the Dolphins and equaled the game-high in steals with four.
 
Mount Saint Mary finished the night shooting 41.7-percent overall in the game, but finished just 3-for-16 from three-point range. The Knights held the Dolphins to 34.5-percent for the game and outscored them 16-11 from the free-throw line and 22-14 in the paint.
 
Friday's win pushes Mount Saint Mary to 6-1 overall on the season and to 4-1 in Skyline Conference play. The Knights will continue their road trip on Sunday when they travel to non-conference foe Utica. Tip-off with the Pioneers is set for 2:00 p.m.