Bronxville, N.Y. – The Mount Saint Mary College Men's Basketball team overcame a 19-point second half deficit on Wednesday, but could not hold off Sarah Lawrence in the closing minutes and dropped a tough 62-60 decision to the Gryphons. Kendall Francis (Great Neck, N.Y.) led a trio of Knights in double-figures with 18 points.
 
A sluggish first half saw the Mount shoot just 24-percent from the floor before halftime. Sarah Lawrence came out and shot an efficient 59.3-percent overall in the first half on its way to a 40-24 lead at the intermission.
 
The Mount never led in the first half, but pulled even at 15-15 with 13:00 left before halftime on a Jaiden Melendez (Lebanon, Pa.) jumper and again at 18-18 on a Ryan Purcell (Middletown, N.J.) triple with 8:26 left before the break.
 
Following the Purcell conversion, Sarah Lawrence used a 22-6 run to close the opening period and carry a 16 point lead into the break. The Gryphons spread their lead to double digits on an Omar Jamaleddine lay-in with 2:13 left in the half and pulled in front by a half-high 16 points at the buzzer when Jamaleddine buried a triple to head to the locker room leading all scorers with 16 points.
 
Coming out of the intermission, Sarah Lawrence jumped in front by a game-high 19 points twice in the opening minutes, including on a B.J. Sanders bucket with 16:59 left in regulation time to give Sarah Lawrence at 49-30 lead.
 
Mount Saint Mary mounted its second half charge starting with a Jameson Morton (Woodstock, N.Y.) jumper that started a 15-2 run. The stretch took just under six minutes and saw the Mount climb to within 51-45 on a pair of Francis free-throws with 10:40 remaining.
 
The Knights would not be able to climb closer than five points until an Ethan Fox (Wallingford, Conn.) bucket got them to within four points with 4:17 left and two more Francis free-throws with just under two minutes remaining capped an 8-2 run and leveled the score at 57-57.
 
Sarah Lawrence answered back with a Sanders lay-in to regain a two-point advantage before Connor Bacci (Bayside, N.Y.) buried a corner three-pointer with 33 seconds left in regulation to give the Knights their first lead of the night at 60-59.
 
Sarah Lawrence again answered with a pair of Jamaleddine free-throws with 17 seconds left that gave the Gryphons the lead for good in the game. Sarah Lawrence knocked in three of its four attempts over the final 17 seconds and denied the Knights at the rim in the closing seconds to hang on for the win.
 
The Knights shot just 38.5-percent in the second half, but held the Gryphons to 31.8-percent shooting after halftime and outscored them by seven from the free-throw line.
 
Francis finished the night just 3-for-12 from the floor, but went 11-for-12 from the free-throw line in leading the Knights with 18 points. He added six rebounds and a pair of steals for the Mount.
 
Fox contributed 10 points on 4-for-6 shooting and closed out a double-double effort with a game-high 11 rebounds and a team-high three assists. Melendez poured in 12 points off the bench for the Knights, knocking in two of the team's five three-pointers.
 
Jamaleddine led all scorers in the game with 22 points for Sarah Lawrence, adding six rebounds and a trio of assists. Enike Anyia chipped in 12 points and a team-high eight rebounds, while Sanders scored 10 points and hauled in seven boards. Austin Jones finished the night with three assists and four steals for the Gryphons.
 
Mount Saint Mary finished the night shooting 31.4-percent overall and 31.3-percent from three-point range. The Gryphons shot 46.9-percenr for the night and held a 34-18 edge in paint points. The Mount held the advantage at the free-throw line 23-12 and in points off of turnovers 20-13.
 
Wednesday's loss drops Mount Saint Mary to 12-9 overall on the season and to 9-7 in Skyline Conference play. Next up for the Knights is a home date with Maritime on Saturday afternoon. Tip time with the Privateers is scheduled for 1:00 p.m.