Rochester, N.Y. – The Mount Saint Mary College Men's Basketball team suffered its third straight loss to start the season following an 83-73 loss to Misericordia in the consolation game of the 2019 Chuck Resler Tournament hosted by the University of Rochester. After averaging 24.0 points over the two games, senior Kendall Francis (Great Neck, N.Y.) was named to the event's All-Tournament Team.
 
For the second straight game the Mount held the advantage at halftime, but was outscored on Saturday by the Cougars after the intermission by 14 points. Misericordia shot a blistering 67.9-percent from the floor after halftime and converted six of its 11 three-point field goals to pull away for the victory.
 
After a sluggish start to the contest, the Mount found itself trailing 18-9 following a Nate Kreitzer jumper with 10:12 left before the break. The Mount answered with the next eight points, including a Francis triple, but would not pull in front until a Paul Sienke (Washington, D.C.) bucket gave the Knights a 21-20 advantage with just under five minutes left in the opening period.
 
The Mount would not trail again in the first half and after Misericrodia knotted the score at 29-29, the Knights scored six of the final eight points of the half to carry a 35-31 lead into the intermission. Zack Swaby (New Windsor, N.Y.) broke the tie with a bucket with just under a minute left in the half and a Ryan Purcell (Middletown, N.J.) triple with 15 ticks left in the half gave the Mount its four-point edge at the break.
 
Although the Mount shot 34.3-percent from the floor in the opening 20 minutes it made one more field goal than the Cougars and outscored Misericrodia from the free-throw line 8-5. Francis finished the half 5-for-10 from the field with a triple to lead the Mount with 12 points. Misericordia had 10 different players scored prior to halftime with Jake Bartholomew leading the way with five points.
 
Misericordia came out of halftime with the first five points to jump in front 36-35, but the Mount answered with a Francis triple to regain the lead with 18:40 left in regulation time. The Knights maintained the lead until the 15:29 mark when a Kreitzer triple knotted the score at 43-43.
 
Following the Kreitzer triple the two teams would trade the lead four times before the Cougars used a 7-0 run capped by a Bartholonew bucket with 11:24 left to move in front 53-48. The Knights pulled to within 55-54 on a Francis triple with 10:27 left in regulation, but Misericordia used a 10-2 run to surge in front 65-56 with just under seven minutes left to play.
 
The Misericordia lead reached double-figures for the first time on a Bartholomew bucket with 1:03 left, pushing the it in front 78-67 with the Cougars grabbing a game-high 82-70 lead on a pair of of Patrick Douthit free-throws in the final 35 seconds.
 
Mount Saint Mary improved to 40-percent shooting in the second half, but the Misericordia went 19-for-28 from the floor overall and shot 54.5-percent from three-point range to pull away for the victory. Three Cougars scored in double-figures after halftime, led by 18 points from Douthit.
 
Francis finished the game with a game-high 23 points, going 8-for-21 from the floor and 4-for-12 from three-point range. He added a game-high 10 assists for the Knights without turning the ball over.
 
Jovin Ramos (Secaucus, N.J.) reached double-figures for the first time this season with 10 points for the Mount, adding two rebounds, an assist and a steal. Sienke rounded out the day with nine points and a team-high seven rebounds, while Nick Lucas (Sparta, N.J.) came off the bench to score eight points. Ethan Fox (Wallingford, Conn.) and Swaby each finished the day with seven points and six rebounds for the Knights.
 
 Douthit led four Cougars in double-figures with 21 points, going 7-for-9 from the floor and 5-for-7 from three-point range. Noah Rivera closed a double-double with 14 points and 13 rebounds, with Keitzer and Batholonew posting 13 and 11 points, respectively.
 
Mount Saint Mary finished the game shooting 37.1-percent overall and 31.3-percent from three-point range. Misericordia converted at 56.6-percent overall and 43.5-percent from bonus distance.
 
At 0-3 overall on the season, Mount Saint Mary returns to action on November 22 when it travels to RPI for a 6:00 p.m. contest with the Engineers.