Newburgh, N.Y. – The Mount Saint Mary College Men's Basketball team dropped a tight, hard fought decision to the College of Mount Saint Vincent on Thursday night by a score of 64-60. Senior Kendall Francis (Great Neck, N.Y.) led the scoring attack with 15 points.
 
In a game that was played entirely within single digits, the Mount got out to aa quick 5-2 lead on a Francis triple just over 90 seconds into the contest. The three-point advantage proved to be the Mount's largest of the contest and its last of the opening stanza.
 
The visitors used a 10-2 stretch covering better than four minutes to overcome the deficit and jump in front 16-9 on a Raiquis Harris bucket with 12:16 left before halftime. The Mount was held to just a single field goal over the run, while the Dolphins converted half of their eight attempts.
 
Mount Saint Vincent grabbed a half-high eight point lead on a Kelvin Turner-Harris triple with 7:09 left before the break, before the Knights scored nine of the final 10 points of the half to get even at 24-24 heading into the intermission. Ryan Purcell (Middletown, N.J.) started the run with a three-pointer and Eli Campbell (Upper Marlboro, Md.) got the Mount even with a fast break bucket in the closing minute.
 
Mount Saint Vincent shot 37-percent from the floor in the opening stanza and knocked in two of its five three-point attempts, while the Knights were limited to 28.6-percent shooting and a 3-for-14 effort from three-point range. Harris led all scorers at the break with 15 points on 7-for-12 shooting for the Dolphins.
 
Ethan Fox (Wallingford, Conn.) buried his first of two second half three-pointers 20 seconds into the second half to push the Mount in front 27-24, but the visitors ripped off the next 10 points, keyed by a pair of Makai Johnson triples to jump back in front 34-27 two-and-a half minutes into the second stanza.
 
The Dolphins maintained the advantage until a Zack Swaby (New Windsor, N.Y.) lay-in knotted the score at 36-36 and he gave the Knights the lead when he converted a free-throw with 12:38 left to play to give the Knights a slim 38-27 lead.
 
After the visitors jumped back in front by six on a Harris jumper, the Mount responded with the next seven points, capped by a Francis bucket to give Mount Saint Mary another slim one-point lead at 48-47.
 
Jameson Morton (Woodstock, N.Y.) pushed the Mount in front 50-48 with a pair of free-throws with 6:58 left, but the Dolphins answered with the next six points to pull in front for good in the game. Johnson scored four of the six points, including a layup in transition with 4:50 left.
 
Mount Saint Vincent built its lead back to 58-52 on a Kalos Evans conversion with 96 seconds left before a triple from Fox and a Paul Sienke (Washington, D.C.) lay-in sliced the deficit to 58-57 with 32 seconds left to play.
 
Mount Saint Vincent got back out in front by five on four straight free-throws from Harris before a Sienke triple with seven ticks remaining got the Knights back to within one possession. Dorian Robinson sealed the game with two conversions from the stripe with five seconds left to give the Dolphins the final four-point advantage.
 
Mount Saint Mary drained six three-pointers after halftime, but converted at just 34.3-percent from the field overall. Mount Saint Vincent improved to 55.6-percent shooting and went 8-for-11 from the free-throw line. Francis scored 12 points after the break for the Knights, while Johnson poured in 15 second half points for the Dolphins.
 
Francis rounded out the night 6-for-18 from the floor with three triples, adding three assists and a steal. Fox chipped in 10 points for the Knights, while Sienke just missed a double-double with nine points and a team-high 10 rebounds.
 
Senior Tristan Millett (Allentown, N.J.) led the Mount with five assists and hauled in four rebounds with Swaby and Purcell each producing six points off the bench.
 
Harris led all scorers in the game with 23 points for Mount Saint Vincent after going 9-for-15 from the field. He closed a big night with a game-high 11 rebounds to go along with three assists and two steals. Johnson scored 18 points and hauled in six rebounds to support the win.

Mount Saint Mary rounded out the game shooting 31.7-percent overall and 26.5-percent from three-point range. Mount Saint Vincent converted at 46.3-percent overall and 44.4-percent from three-point range to go along with a 32-4 advantage in fast break points.
 
Thursday's loss drops Mount Saint Mary to 5-13 overall and to 3-6 in Skyline Conference play. Next up for the Mount is a trip to St. Joseph's-L.I. on Saturday for a 3:00 p.m. tip-off with the Golden Eagles.