Newburgh, N.Y. – Senior Kendall Francis (Great Neck, N.Y.) scored a season-high 31 points and in the process netted his 1,000^th career point, but it was not enough as the Mount Saint Mary College Men's Basketball team was topped by visiting Purchase 78-70 on Saturday afternoon at the Kaplan Center.
 
The Knights scored the first seven points of the game, including a three-pointer from Francis just 2:01 into the contest, but the visiting Panthers answered with a 23-3 run covering over eight minutes to surge in front for good in the game. The visitors went 10-for-18 from the floor over the run with Jorge Perdomo leading the attack with 10 points. The Mount was limited to 1-for-11 shooting with Jameson Morton (Woodstock, N.Y.) accounting for the only field goal.
 
Purchase would grab a game-high 30-12 lead on a Perdomo bucket with 7:47 left before the break and maintained a double-figure lead until the closing seconds of the first half. Following a pair of free-throws from Brian Hardy that gave the Panthers a 41-29 lead, the Mount got jumpers from Isaiah Robinson (Garfield, N.J.) and Francis in the final 45 seconds to climb to within 41-33 at the intermission.
 
Purchase finished the half shooting better than 44-percent overall, while the Mount was limited to 36.7-percent and 1-for-8 from three-point range. Francis led the Mount with 13 points at the break, while Perdomo led all scorers with 14 tallies.
 
Coming out of the break, the Mount scored the first seven points of the half to slice the deficit to a single point. Francis started the spurt with a triple and Tristan Millett (Allentown, N.J.) contributed a pair of conversions to get the Mount to within 41-40 with 17:46 left in regulation.
 
The Mount would get to within a single point again on a Paul Sienke (Washington, D.C.) lay-in on the fast break, but would not be able to pull even or ahead in the second half. Purchase answered the Sienke bucket with an Elijah Harris basket and built the lead back to double-figures again on a Perdomo bucket that put it in front 62-51 with just under 11 minutes left to play.
 
Mount Saint Mary battled back again and pulled to within 64-60 on a pair of Francis free-throws, but the Panthers got a Maxx Miller layup and a three-pointer from Elijah Lott to pull back in front by nine points with 6:34 left in the half. Purchase grabbed a half-high lead of 78-66 on two Jorden Means free-throws in the final half minute before and pair of Francis buckets that brought the Mount to within the final eight point decision.
 
Francis continued his stellar offensive season with a season-high 31 points, going 10-for-26 from the floor with a trio of triples and a perfect 8-for-8 effort from the free-throw line. He closed out a double-double with a team-high 10 rebounds, adding three assists and three steals. Francis becomes the 16^th Knight since the 1991-92 season to reach 1,000 points and the seventh since 2010 to achieve the career milestone.
 
Ethan Fox (Wallingford, Conn.) put together a strong game with 11 points, nine rebounds and four blocked shots, while Morton chipped in 10 points, four rebounds, three assists and a pair of blocked shots.
 
Purchase featured a balanced scoring attack led by 18 points from Perdomo with Lott posting 16 points, a game-high 14 rebounds, three assists and three steals. Harris produced 15 points and four assists and Miller came off the bench to score 17 points, adding seven boards and a trio of helpers.
 
Mount Saint Mary finished the day shooting 36.4-percent and went 3-for-19 from three-point range. Purchase converted at 44.6-percent overall and also struggled from distance, going 3-for-16 in the contest. Each team category was close on Saturday, with Purchase holding a 44-40 edge in the paint and the Knights taking a 21-20 advantage in points off of turnovers and 17-12 edge in second chance scoring. The big advantage came with Purchase's 23-9 advantage in bench scoring.
 
Saturday's loss drops Mount Saint Mary to 4-10 overall on the season and to 2-3 in Skyline Conference play. Next up for the Knights is a trip to Long Island on Wednesday to take on Farmingdale State. Tip-off with the Rams is scheduled for 7:00 p.m.