Purchase, N.Y. – The Mount Saint Mary College Men's Basketball team returned to action on Thursday and dropped a 78-43 road Skyline Conference decision at Purchase. The Knights did not have a player reach double figures in scoring, with Connor Bacci (Bayside, N.Y.) and Kendall Francis (Great Neck, N.Y.) leading the way with nine points each.
 
The Mount did not get on the board in the contest until the 13:28 mark when Dominick Arcodia (Valley Stream, N.Y.) stopped an opening 7-0 run from the Panthers. The Knights did not get their second field goal until a Jovin Ramos (Secaucus, N.J.) three-pointer with 6:37 left before halftime that brought the Knights to within 18-8.
 
Purchase spread its lead back to 15 points on a Maxx Miller three-point play with 5:06 left in the opening period, before the Knights clawed back to within 28-19 with 11 of the final 16 points of the period. Bacci led the closing run with five points to bring the Knights to within nine points after 20 minutes.
 
The Mount was limited to 28.6-percent shooting prior to halftime and knocked down only two of its eight three point attempts. Purchase shot 36.4-percent in the opening period and finished 2-for-11 from three-point range.
 
The Panthers did not allow the Mount closer than nine points in the second frame and used a 17-3 run covering just under five minutes to open a 52-29 lead on a Willie Britton lay-in with 8:41 remaining in the contest. The Purchase lead ballooned to a game-high 37 points on a  Michael Soffer triple with just shy two minutes left to play.
 
The Mount finished the second half 7-for-28 from the floor and 1-for-10 from three-point range, while Purchase improved to better than 54-percenet from the floor and outscored the Mount 22-9 from the free-throw line after halftime.
 
Francis was held to a season-low nine points on 2-for-13 shooting against the Panthers, while Bacci rounded out the night with two of the team's three triples and added a team-high six rebounds. Paul Sienke (Washington, D.C.) led the team with two blocks and added five points, while Jameson Morton (Woodstock, N.Y.) produced eight points off the bench.
 
Purchase was led by 18 points and 11 rebounds from Elijah Lott with Britton adding 15 points. Miller finished up with 14 points and four boards off the bench, while Soffer produced 13 points and a pair of rebounds.
 
Mount Saint Mary shot a season-low 26.5-percent shooting after going 13-for-49 from the floor. The Mount finished 3-for-18 from three-point range and misfired on 15 free-throws. Purchase finished the game shooting just under 44-percent and outscored the Mount by 10 from the free-throw line and in points off of turnovers.
 
Thursday's loss drops Mount Saint Mary to 11-7 overall and to 8-5 in Skyline Conference play. Next up for the Knights is a home date with St. Joseph's-Brooklyn on Saturday. Tip-off with the Bears at the Kaplan Center is set for 3:00 p.m.