Bronxville, N.Y. – The Mount Saint Mary College Men's Basketball team continued Skyline Conference play on Thursday, suffering a hard fought 63-61 defeat on the road at Skyline North Division rival Sarah Lawrence. Senior Kendall Francis (Great Neck, N.Y.) paced the Mount with 23 points.
 
Tightly contested throughout, the opening 5:03 featured five lead changes. The Mount jumped out to a quick 3-2 lead on a Jovin Ramos (Secaucus, N.J.) three-pointer and grabbed its largest lead of the game, 9-6, on an Ethan Fox (Wallingford, Conn.) triple at the 16:47 mark of the opening stanza.
 
Following a Justin Bailey conversion that knotted the score at 9-9, the Mount and Gryphons would be tied two more times heading into halftime, but the Knights would not be able to pull back in front. Sarah Lawrence grabbed the lead for good in the half on an Enike Anyia bucket with 6:48 left in the period and used a pair of Anyia free-throws to push its lead to 27-21 with 1:07 left in the period. After another Ramos triple that sliced the lead to two, the Gryphons got a Omar Jamaleddine jumper in the closing seconds of the half to carry a 29-24 lead into the intermission.
 
Mount Saint Mary was held to 32.8-percent shooting prior to the break and knocked in four three-pointers, while Sarah Lawrence shot 45.8-percent despite going 0-for-8 from three-point range. Anyia led all scorers at the break with 16 points, while Ramos paced the Mount with eight points on the strength of a 2-for-4 effort from three-point range.
 
Mount Saint Mary opened the second half with a Francis triple to get its deficit to 29-27, but Sarah Lawrence answered with the next four points to jump back in front 33-27 on a Jammaleddine three-pointer, the team's first of the game.
 
The Knights got the game even at 36-36 on a Nick Lucas (Sparta, N.J.) bucket in the paint, but the Gryphons answered again with six straight points to pull back in front 42-36.
 
After the Lucas conversion, the Mount would not pull even again and saw Sarah Lawrence push the advantage to double-figures for the only time in the game when a B.J. Sanders bucket with 5:14 left put the Knights in a 56-46 hole.
 
The Mount put together one final push over the final five minutes, using a Francis three-pointer with 22 seconds left to bring the Knights to within a single point at 62-61. Following an Aniya free-throw with 14 seconds left, Francis had a look in the closing seconds, but could not get it to fall.
 
The Knights improved to 47.4-percent shooting after halftime and canned three more triples, while Sarah Lawrence converted at 45.5-percent in the second half with a trio of triples. The Mount got back into the game with a 16-for-18 effort from the charity stripe after halftime.
 
Francis continued his standout senior season, reaching at least 20 points for the seventh time this season and moving to within 17 points of 1,000 in his career. He finished the night 8-for-20 from the floor, adding three assists and four steals.
 
Ramos reached double-figures for the third time this season with 10 points, going 4-for-6 from the floor with a pair of triples. Paul Sienke (Washington, D.C.) and Fox each posted seven points, with Lucas adding six points off the bench. Fox grabbed six rebounds on the night, while Lucas led the team on the glass with seven caroms.
 
Aniya led all scorers with 26 points on 8-for-13 shooting and a 10-for-14 effort from the free-throw line, closing a double-double with a game-high 10 rebounds. Jamaleddine added 19 points and added seven boards, while Sanders finished off a solid night with seven points, five rebounds and three assists.
 
Mount Saint Mary shot 38.0-percent overall in the game with seven three-pointers, while Sarah Lawrence converted at nearly 46-percent. The Gryphons outscored the Mount by 12 in the paint and by three in second chance scoring.
 
Thursday's loss drops Mount Saint Mary to 4-9 overall on the season and back to .500 in the league at 2-2. The Knights return home on Saturday when they welcome Purchase to the Kaplan Center for a 1:00 p.m. tip-off.