Newburgh, N.Y. – Led by 21 points from
Elijah Barnett (Poughkeepsie, N.Y.) and a double-double from
Jayden Figueroa (New Windsor, N.Y.), the Mount Saint Mary College Men's Basketball team used a big second half to pull away for its first win of the season, an 80-57 victory over visiting CCNY.
Saturday's win evens the Mount's record at 1-1 through the season's first two games, while the Beavers fall to 0-2.
First Half
- A tightly contested first half featured seven ties and eight lead changes.
- The Knights used an 8-0 run in the later stages of the opening period to open a 24-16 advantage.
- Chris Yearwood (Red Hook, N.Y.) broke a 16-16 tie with a jumper and scored six points over the run, capping the stretch with a bucket at the 4:41 mark of the opening period.
- A Brenden Graham (Campbell Hall, N.Y.) three-pointer with just under two minutes left in the half pushed the Knights in front 29-20.
- A Figueroa dunk with eight seconds left in the half moved the Mount in front 34-23, matching their largest lead of the half.
- Yassine Sakhi answered with a triple at the horn to send the two teams into the break with the Mount leading 34-28.
- Mount Saint Mary shot 48.1-percent from the floor in the opening half and connected on four triples.
- CCNY was held to 32.1-percent shooting in the opening 20 minutes and also made four three-pointers.
- Connor Cyran (Garfield, N.J.), Figueroa and Yearwood all finished the first half with six points with Figueroa adding five rebounds and a pair of blocks.
- Sakhi led all scorers at the break with 12 points for CCNY, adding four assists.
Second Half
- CCNY came out of the break on a 12-4 run over the first 2:20 of the second half to surge in front 42-40.
- CCNY went 5-for-5 from the floor over the run, including two triples.
- A B. Graham bucket that pushed the Mount in front 44-42 gave the Knights for lead for good in the game and started a 14-2 stretch for the Knights.
- Five different players scored for the Mount over the run, including seven points from Barnett who capped the run with a pair of free-throws to give the Knights a 56-44 lead with 11:17 left to play.
- The Knights' lead grew to 69-49 on a Justin Rivera (Hazlet, N.J.) bucket with 5:32 left in the second half.
- Rivera later pushed the Knights in front by a game-high 25 points with a pair of free-throws with 91 seconds left, giving the Knights an 80-55 advantage.
- Skahi converted a layup in the final half minute to bring the Beavers to within the final 80-57 decision.
- Mount Saint Mary converted at an efficient 57.1-percent in the second half and outscored CCNY 14-6 from the free-throw line after the break.
- CCNY shot 38.5-percent in the second half, knocking in three second half triples.
- Barnett scored 17 points after halftime on 6-for-8 shooting and a 5-for-6 effort from the free-throw line.
- Sakhi and Michael Bowman led the CCNY attack after halftime with eight points apiece.
For The Knights
- Barnett poured in a game-high 21 points on 8-for-12 shooting, adding three rebounds, two assists and two steals.
- Figueroa had a big afternoon for the Knights, finishing a double-double with 13 points and a game-high 10 rebounds. He swatted five blocks and added two steals.
- In his second career game, Rivera finished with a career-high 10 points off the bench and swiped two steals.
- B. Graham also added a career-high 10 points, adding three rebounds.
- Yearwood led the team with three assists and chipped in nine points.
- Cyran hauled in seven rebounds and scored eight points.
For The Beavers
- Sakhi led the team with 20 points and five assists.
- Daniel Piszczarowski tallied 10 points and posted a team-high seven rebounds.
- Bowman finished up with eight points and a pair of steals.
Game Statistics
- Mount Saint Mary finished the game shooting 52.6-percent from the floor and connected on four three-pointers.
- CCNY converted at 35.2-percent and knocked down seven triples.
- Mount Saint Mary outscored the Beavers 16-12 from the free-throw line.
- Mount Saint Mary dominated the paint with a 44-18 edge in inside scoring.
What's Next
- The Knights are off until they travel to Bard to open the Hudson Valley Classic on Friday.
- CCNY travels to Maritime on Monday.
