Albany, N.Y. – The Mount Saint Mary College Men's Basketball team suffered its third straight loss Tuesday evening after Russell Sage rallied to a 68-65 victory.
Jayden Figueroa (New Windsor, N.Y.) posted a double-double for the Knights, including a season-high 20 points.
Tuesday defeat drops Mount Saint Mary to 1-4 overall on the season, while the Gators collect their second straight win and move to 2-3 through five contests.
First Half
- The Knights trailed by as many as five points over the opening 6:49 of the contest before grabbing a 16-13 lead on a Justin Rivera (Hazlet, N.J.) triple at the midway point of the opening period.
- The two sides yo-yoed the lead over the next four minutes before the Knights got back-to-back buckets from Figueroa and Elijah Barnett (Poughkeepsie, N.Y.) to move in front 26-20 with 4:36 left before the intermission.
- After a Jackson Brown three-pointer moved the Gators to within 26-23, the Knights tallied 10 of the next 12 points to surge in front 36-25 with 1:27 left in the half.
- Figueroa scored half of the Mount's points over the run, capping the spurt with a layup.
- Brown ended the half for the Gators with another triple to send the two teams into the intermission with the Mount leading 36-28.
- Mount Saint Mary finished the half shooting 42.1-percent overall, but connected on just three of its 12 three-point chances.
- Sage was limited to 34.4-percent shooting from the field, including four three-pointers.
- Figueroa finished the opening period with 14 points on the strength of 6-for-9 shooting, including a pair of three-pointers.
- Brown led the Gators with eight first half points.
Second Half
- The Knights quickly spread its lead back to double-figures on a Barnett conversion in the opening half minute of the second half.
- The Knights maintained the advantage until the 13:27 mark of the second half when Brown canned another three-pointer to knot the score at 44-44.
- The Knights jumped back in front following a bucket from Brenden Graham (Campbell Hall, N.Y.) and a triple from Rivera that got the Knights in front 52-49 with just over 11 minutes left in regulation time.
- Sage regained a one-point advantage with 8:55 left to play before the Mount responded with a Chris Yearwood (Red Hook, N.Y.) three-pointer that gave them back a 55-53 lead.
- After a Connor Cyran (Garfield, N.J.) conversion with 2:56 left gave the Mount a 63-58 lead, the Gators ripped off the next nine points to grab a 67-63 lead with 26 seconds left in the contest.
- A pair of Yearwood free-throws got the Mount to within 67-65 with 16 seconds left, but the Knights went without a field goal after Cyran conversion.
- A Brown free-throw with 15 seconds left closed out the scoring in the game and gave the Gators the final three-point advantage.
- Mount Saint Mary was able to convert at 41.4-percent from the floor and connected on three triples after halftime.
- Sage made two fewer field goals in the second half, but made four triples and held a 16-2 advantage in scoring from the free-throw line.
- Figueroa and Barnett each scored six points in the second half for the Knights.
- Brown poured in 11 second half points for the Gators.
For The Knights
- Figueroa finished with his second double-double of the season, scoring a season-high 20 points to go along with 11 rebounds. He finished 9-for-16 from the floor and added a pair of blocked shots and two steals.
- Barnett finished 6-for-12 from the field on his way to 13 points. He closed the night with five rebounds and equaled the team-high with three steals and four assists.
- Cyran totaled 10 points to go along with seven rebounds.
- Rivera chipped in eight points and joined Barnett with four assists.
For The Gators
- Brown totaled a team-high 19 points to go along with five rebounds and three assists.
- Evan Kwasniewski came off the bench to score 14 points, going 4-for-8 from the floor and 6-for-6 from the free-throw line.
- Noah Girard led all players with four steals.
- Ryan Long contributed eight points, five rebounds and three steals to the victory.
Game Statistics
- Mount Saint Mary converted at 41.8-percent for the game and went 6-for-21 from three-point range and just 3-for-8 from the free-throw line.
- Sage finished the night shooting 35.6-percent overall, but connected on eight three-pointers and outscored the Mount 18-3 from the free-throw line.
- Mount Saint Mary held a 38-24 advantage in paint scoring.
- Points off of turnovers went to the Knights by a slim 20-17 margin.
- Sage turned 14 offensive rebounds into a 17-13 edge in second chance points.
What's Next
- Mount Saint Mary travels to Hunter on Monday evening.
- The Gators head to MCLA on Tuesday.
