Newburgh, N.Y. – The Mount Saint Mary College Men's Basketball team opened 2020 with an 84-60 non-conference loss to visiting Suffolk on Thursday afternoon. The Knights featured a pair of players in double-figures, led by 18 points from junior Jameson Morton (Woodstock, N.Y.).
 
After Ethan Fox (Wallingford, Conn.) gave the Knights their only lead of the game, 2-0 on a lay-in in the opening minute, the Rams used a 15-2 run covering just under three minutes to surge in front 15-4 with 15:37 left before halftime. The Rams opened the 11-point lead after going 5-for-5 from the floor and 3-for-3 from three-point range over the 2:41 stretch. Max Bonney-Liles led the charge with six points.
 
The Mount would close to within seven points when Tristan Millett (Allentown, N.J.) drilled a three-pointer with just over eight minutes left before halftime, but the visitors put together a 23-10 stretch to finish the half to carry a 48-28 advantage into halftime. The Rams went 5-for-8 from bonus distance over the seven-minute stretch and featured six different scorers over the run.
 
Suffolk shot a blistering 60-percent from the floor in the opening 20 minutes, including an even 50-percent from three-point range in 16 attempts. The Mount converted at 48-percent prior to the break, but finished up 2-for-9 from behind the arc. Alex Jacovides led all scorers with 11 points at the break for the Rams, while Morton and Fox each finished the period with eight points for the Mount.
 
Mount Saint Mary would not be able to pull any closer than 16 points over the course of the second half and saw Suffolk grab a game-high 73-45 advantage on a William Rowe lay-in with just under seven minutes left to play.
 
Suffolk continued its hot shooting in the second stanza, converting at better than 48-percent overall while connecting on seven more three-pointers. The Mount dipped to 40-percent shooting after the break and hit three of its 13 second half three-point attempts.
 
Morton put together a strong afternoon, going a perfect 8-for-8 from the floor to go along with an assist, a steal and a trio of blocked shots. Fox reached double-figures for the third time this season, matching his season-high with 16 points. He went 6-for-7 from the floor and hauled in a team-high four rebounds.
 
Senior Kendall Francis (Great Neck, N.Y.) led the Knights with five assists in the contest with Millett and Paul Sienke (Washington, D.C.) each swiping two steals, adding seven and five  points, respectively.
 
Suffolk featured four players in double-figures, led by 19 points off the bench from Jacovides who wrapped up the game 6-for-9 from the floor and 5-for-7 from three-point range. Johnathan Eng added 11 points for the Rams with Thomas Duffy and Nate Hale each scoring 10 points.
 
Jarrett Byrne led all players with seven rebounds with Eng leading the way with six assists as the Rams helped on 25 of their 32 makes in the game.
 
Mount Saint Mary finished the game shooting 43.6-percent from the floor, but converted at just 22.7-percent from three-point range. The Rams shot 54.2-percent for the game and rounded out the win 15-for-34 from three-point range.
 
Thursday's loss drops Mount Saint Mary to 2-7 overall on the season. Next up for the Mount is the Skyline Conference opener against Manhattanville on January 8. Tip-off with the Valiants is set for 8:00 p.m.