Bronx, N.Y. – The Mount Saint Mary College Men's Basketball team returned to action on Wednesday and suffered a 71-67 non-conference road loss at Lehman. Senior Kendall Francis (Great Neck, N.Y.) led a pair of Knights in double-figures with 21 points.
 
Mount Saint Mary got off to a quick start on Wednesday and opened a 12-4 lead on an Ethan Fox (Wallingford, Conn.) lay-in just under four minutes into the contest. The Knights would stretch their lead to 16-7 on a Nick Lucas (Sparta, N.J.) conversion just over two minutes later to give the Mount its largest lead of the night.
 
The Knights maintained the lead until an Alex Hanson conversion pushed Lehman in front 27-26 with 5:33 left before halftime. The bucket was part of a 16-5 closing run for the Lightning that saw the Mount go without a field goal in the final 9:59 of the first half and send Lehman into the intermission with a 35-28 lead.
 
Mount Saint Mary went 1-for-14 over the final half of the first period with a pair of Jovin Ramos (Secasucus, N.J.) free-throws with 15 seconds left in the period giving the Mount its first points since a Francis triple with 9:59 left in the half.
 
The Knights were limited to 29.0-percent shooting in the opening stanza, while Lehman converted at 43.3-percent. Mount Saint Mary knocked down four triples prior to halftime and went 6-for-7 from the free-throw line. Francis led the scoring for the Knights with 10 points
 
Lehman never trailed in the second half and quickly spread its lead to 39-30 on an Isaiah Geathers conversion just over two minutes into the period and the advantage reached double-figures at 42-32 on a Gian Batista triple a half minute later.
 
The Mount climbed back to within 48-46 on a Francis three-pointer with 13:13 left in regulation time and pulled even at 51-51 on a Jameson Morton (Woodstock, N.Y.) jumper with 11:32 left to play, but could never pull back in front. The Lightning moved back in front 61-51 on a Tommy Bastita conversion with 9:17 left to play. After falling behind by double-figures, the Knights would never get closer than the final four-point final.
 
Francis went just 3-for-12 in the second half, but all three field goals came from behind the arc on his way to 11 second half tallies. The Knights improved to 40.6-percent shooting after halftime, but saw Lehman convert at a blistering 62.5-percent, including a 4-for-6 effort from three-point range.
 
Francis scored at least 20 points for the fourth time in six games, closing the night 6-for-19 from the floor and 5-for-12 from three-point range. He finished off the night with two assists and a pair of blocks for the Mount.
 
 
Morton chipped in with 11 points on 4-for-7 shooting, adding four rebounds and four assists with Fox leading the team with nine rebounds to go along with eight points and two blocked shots. Paul Sienke (Washington, D.C.) contributed seven points and three assists, with Tristan Millett (Allentown, N.J.) matching the team-high with four assists and pacing the team with four steals.
 
Lehman featured four players in double-figures, led by a team-high 18 points from G. Batista who added six rebounds and a game-high eight assists. Geathers added 17 points and nine rebounds with Mo Idrissou and T. Batista chipping in 10 points apiece. Hanson led all players in the game with 11 boards.
 
Mount Saint Mary finished the game shooting 34.9-percent overall and 38.5-percent from three-point range. The Lightning converted at 51.9-percent overall and 46.2-percent from behind the arc.
 
Wednesday's loss drops Mount Saint Mary to 1-5 overall on the season. The Knights return home on Friday when they play host to Cobleskill. Tip-off at the Kaplan Center is scheduled for 6:00 p.m.