Kings Point, N.Y. – The Mount Saint Mary College Men's Basketball team posted back-to-back wins for the first time this season on Tuesday following a 62-53 Skyline Conference road victory at the United States Merchant Marine Academy. Junior Ethan Fox (Wallingford, Conn.) finished the night with his second straight double-double.
 
After falling behind 2-0 in the early stages of Tuesday's contest, the Mount got a three-pointer from Kendall Francis (Great Neck, N.Y.) and would not trail again on the night. The Francis triple started a 15-2 run that saw the Mount grab an 11-point advantage with 14:29 left in the first half. Francis led the charge over the run with a trio of three-pointers.
 
Mount Saint Mary would not let the Mariners closer than seven points the remainder of the first half and used a Fox lay-in with 1:54 left before halftime to grab a half-high 32-17 advantage. USMMA closed to within 11 following back-to-back buckets, but a Nick Lucas (Sparta, N.J.) three-pointer with a half minute left in the opening period sent the Knights to the intermission with a 35-21 lead.
 
The Knights shot an efficient 51.9-percent from the floor overall in the opening 20 minutes and knocked in six three-point field goals. The defense limited the Mariners to 35.7-percent shooting and a 1-for-11 effort from three-point range. Francis led all scorers at the break with 11 points, going 4-for-6 from the field and 3-for-5 from behind the arc.
 
The Mount maintained a double-figure lead for much of the second half and worked its advantage to 46-29 on another Francis triple just under nine minutes into the second frame. The Mount equaled the game-high 17-point advantage four more times over the second stanza, including on a Paul Sienke (Washington, D.C.) lay-in with 4:06 left to play that moved the Mount in front 58-41.
 
Mount Saint Mary did not let USMMA within 10 points in the second half until the closing seconds of the second half when Seth Barnes capped off a quick 7-1 run to bring the Mariners to within the final nine-point decision.
The Knights cooled off from long distance in the second half, converting just once from beyond the arc, but still shot 47.6-percent from the floor after the break. The defense held USMMA under 40-percent again in the second half, allowing USMMA to convert at just 37-percent.
 
Francis was held to only three points after halftime, but led all scorers in the game with 14 points. He finished up 5-for-8 from the field with four three-pointers and added two rebounds, two assists, a block and a steal.
 
Fox produced his second straight double-double, scoring 10 points and grabbing a game-high 10 rebounds. He closed out a strong game with two blocks and a pair of thefts for the Knights. Sienke rounded out the win with 10 points to go along with four rebounds and matched the team-high with three assists.
 
Junior Jameson Morton (Woodstock, N.Y.) joined Sienke with three assists in the game and chipped in seven points and a trio of steals, with Lucas adding seven points off the bench. Jovin Ramos (Secaucus, N.J.) contributed six points to the win and handed out a pair of assists.
 
USMMA was led by 13 points from Barnes and 10 points from James Walsh. Isaiah Nix led the team with six rebounds off the bench.
 
The Knights shot a season-high 50.0-percent from the floor in the win coupled with a season-high 38.9-percent conversion rate from three-point range. The defense remained stout, allowing USMMA to shoot only 36.4-percent overall and 21.1-perecent from long distance.
 
Tuesday's win pushes Mount Saint Mary to 4-8 overall on the season and to 2-1 against Skyline Conference rivals. The Knights continue a busy week on Thursday when they head to Sarah Lawrence for a 6:00 p.m. tip-off with the Gryphons.