Newburgh, N.Y. – The Mount Saint Mary College Men's Basketball suffered its fifth straight defeat to open the season in heartbreaking fashion following a 73-67 overtime loss to Sage Tuesday evening.
Chris Yearwood (Red Hook, N.Y.) tallied a game-high 20 points, reaching the 20-point mark for the third straight contest.
Tuesday's loss drops Mount Saint Mary to 0-5 overall on the season while Sage improves to 5-1. The Mount now holds an 11-6 record against the Gators in the last 17 meetings in the series.
First Half
- Mount Saint Mary used an 11-0 run in the early going on Tuesday to pull in front 15-9 on a Jayden Figueroa (New Windsor, N.Y.) three-pointer with 12:56 left in the opening period.
- The Mount went 5-for-8 from the floor over the 3:18 stretch with Zack Swaby (New Windsor, N.Y.) leading four different scorers with four points.
- The Mount maintained the lead until the 2:59 mark of the first half when a pair of Jason Geronimo free-throws pushed the Gators in front 25-24.
- The Knights quickly regained the lead on a Ryan Graham (Campbell Hall, N.Y.) three-pointer that pushed them in front 27-25.
- Sage closed the period with the final four points, a lay-up from Jalon Borders and a Todd Williamson jumper, to pull in front 29-27 after 20 minutes of action.
- Mount Saint Mary shot 38.5-percent prior to halftime and went 4-for-9 from three-point range.
- Sage converted at 30.8-percent in the first half and knocked down just one of its five three-point attempts.
- Graham led all scorers at the break with eight points for the Knights.
- Noah Girard came off the bench to pace Sage with seven points.
Second Half
- A spirited second half saw the Knights fall behind by five in the early going following a three-point play from Geronimo just under three minutes into the half.
- Mount Saint Mary grabbed its first lead of the half on a Yearwood triple with 15:07 left in regulation to push the Knights in front 37-36.
- Following the Yearwood three-pointer, the final 15 minutes would feature five ties and four lead changes.
- Mount Saint Mary moved in front 44-40 on a Graham conversion in the paint with 11:59 left in the period.
- Sage answered with a 13-2 stretch that pushed it in front 53-46 on a Charles David dunk with just shy of six minutes left in the half.
- The Gators held the lead until the 2:33 mark when Graham canned a three-pointer to push the Knights in front 57-55.
- The Mount's lead grew to five points twice in the final 1:42, but a Geronimo layup with 14 seconds left and a three-pointer off an offensive rebound from Tyler Mitchell with five seconds left in regulation knotted things up at 62-62 following regulation.
- Yearwood finished the half with 13 points, going 4-for-5 from the floor and 3-for-4 from behind the arc.
- Mount Saint Mary shot an even 50-percent from the field in the second half and went 7-for-12 from three-point range.
- Sage shot just 35.7-percent and made just the one three-pointer in the second, but outscored the Knights 12-4 from the free-throw line and grabbed nine offensive rebounds leading to an 18-6 edge in second chance scoring in the half.
Overtime
- Sage scored the first six points of the extra period to grab the lead for good in the game.
- Yearwood buried a three-pointer with 1:18 left in the frame to cut the Knights' deficit to 68-65, but the Gators knocked in four free-throws and got another triple from Mitchell to hold off the Mount.
- Sage made three of their five field goal attempts in the extra session and went a perfect 4-for-4 from the free-throw line.
- Mount Saint Mary went 1-for-6 from the floor in overtime.
For The Knights
- Yearwood finished with an even 20 points to move his scoring average to 16.8 on the season through five games. He closed out the night with 7-for-14 from the floor and 4-for-7 from three-point range. He added three rebounds, an assist, a block and a steal.
- Graham reached double-figures in scoring for the fourth time in five games with 18 points. He closed a strong night with six rebounds, two assists, a block and a steal.
- Connor Cyran (Garfield, N.J.) closed the night with 10 points, adding a team-high seven rebounds, two blocks and two steals.
- Mike Dedda (West Chester, Pa.) paced the Mount with three assists.
- Figueroa chipped in five points, six rebounds and a trio of blocked shots.
For The Gators
- Geronimo led Sage with 15 points and closed a double-double with a game-high 13 rebounds while adding five steals.
- Borders added 13 points, eight rebounds and four assists.
- Mitchell closed the night with 12 points and seven caroms and connected on two of the team's three-pointers in the game.
- Davis and Willamson each tallied 10 points for the Gators.
Game Statistics
- Mount Saint Mary shot 41.1-percent overall for the game and an efficient 52.2-percent (12-for-23) from three-point range.
- Sage converted at 34.7-percent overall and went 3-for-10 from behind the arc.
- The Gators outscored the Knights 20-9 from the free-throw line.
- Sage held a 36-16 advantage in paint scoring and a 31-15 edge in points off of turnovers.
- The Gators secured 23 offensive rebounds in the game on their way to a 21-4 edge in second chance points.
- Fast break points went to the Gators 18-12 and the visitors held a convincing edge in bench scoring at 40-11.
What's Next
- Mount Saint Mary opens Skyline Conference play on December 1 when it welcomes USMMA to the Kaplan Center.
- Sage hosts Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts on November 30.
