Newburgh, N.Y. – The Mount Saint Mary College Men's Basketball team pulled to within a single point with just under eight minutes left in regulation time, but were held to just seven points the rest of the way in an 82-65 loss to #22 Yeshiva on Wednesday night. Three Knights scored in double-figures led by 15 points from senior Kendall Francis (Great Neck, N.Y.).
 
In a fast paced first half, the two teams traded the lead 11 times over the opening 9:13 of the contest. The Mount's largest lead of the half came after a Paul Sienke (Washington, D.C.) lay-in gave the Knights an 11-9 edge and then again on a Jamesom Morton (Woodstock, N.Y.) bucket that pushed them in front 13-11 with 14:12 left in the opening stanza.
 
The Mount's final lead of the night came on a Sienke conversion with 11:05 left in the half before a Caleb Milobsky bucket pushed the Macs in front for good in the game. The Knights would not get closer than the one point disadvantage until the second half and saw Yeshiva use a 10-4 spurt to finish the first half and carry a 42-34 lead into the intermission.
 
Mount Saint Mary shot just under 41-percent from the floor in the first half and went 3-for-9 from three-point range, but the visitors converted at an efficient 57.6-percent and knocked in three of their seven three-point attempts. Sienke led the Knights with nine first half tallies, while Ryan Turell led all scorers with 15 points at the break for Yeshiva.
 
The Macs quickly opened a 10-point lead coming out of halftime on a Daniel Katz bucket and reached a 10-point advantage on three other occasions over the first 8:50 of the second half. Following a Turell bucket with 11:10 left in regulation gave Yeshiva a 57-47 lead, the Knights ripped off 11 of the next 13 points to slice its disadvantage to a single point at 59-58.
 
Francis started the 11-2 run with a free-throw and the Mount went 5-for-7 from the floor over the 2:55 stretch. Francis scored seven of the 11 points for the Knights, who limited Yeshiva to just a single field goal.
 
After the Mount got to within a point, the Maccabees scored the next 12 points to spread its lead back to 71-58 on a Turell lay-in with 4:41 left in regulation. Yeshiva hit on six of its seven field goal attempts over the run with Turrell scoring eight points. After pulling in front by 13, Yeshiva would not let the Mount closer than eight points the rest of the night and jumped in front by a game-high 17 points on a Milobsky triple with 33 seconds left to play.
 
Mount Saint Mary improved to better than 41-percent shooting in the second half, while Yeshiva continued its efficient shooting after halftime, converting at 56.3-percent. Turell poured in 15 more points after halftime, with Francis scoring 11 points after the break for the Knights.
 
Francis finished the night 7-for-24 from the floor for the Mount, adding three rebounds, four assists and a pair of steals. Sienke reached double-figures for the fifth time in the last six games with 14 points on the strength of 5-for-8 shooting. Sienke added four rebounds, an assist and a block for the Knights.
 
Ethan Fox (Wallingford, Conn.) chipped in 11 points, five rebounds and a pair of blocks, with Morton contributing nine points, three assists and three steals. Tristan Millett (Allentown, N.J.) equaled the team-high with four assists and Nick Lucas (Sparta, N.J.) joined Fox with a team-high five rebounds.
 
Turell led all scorers in the game with 30 points for Yeshiva who ran its winning streak to 19 games. He finished up 13-for-20 from the floor, adding four assists and eight rebounds. Gabriel Leifer led all players with 16 rebounds and rounded out the night with 11 points, three assists, four blocks and four steals. Halpert chipped in 14 points for the Macs on 7-for-13 shooting.
 
Mount Saint Mary closed the night shooting 40.9-percent for the game and wrapped up 5-for-17 from three-point range. Yeshiva converted at 56.9-percent overall and outscored the Mount 54-36 in the paint.
 
Wednesday's loss drops Mount Saint Mary to 6-14 overall on the season and to 4-7 in Skyline Conference play. Next up for the Knights is a trip to Manhattanville on Saturday for a 3:00 p.m. tip-off with the Valiants.