Newburgh, N.Y. – The Mount Saint Mary College Men's Basketball team overcame a 16-point first half deficit to lead late in the second half, but the visiting Fighting Tigers from Cobleskill escaped the Kaplan Center with a 68-67 victory Wednesday night.
Connor Cyran (Garfield, N.J.) led three Knights in double-figures with a team-high 15 points.
Wednesday's loss drops Mount Saint Mary to 2-5 overall on the season, while Cobleskill improves to 6-2 through its first eight contests.
First Half
- Cobleskill got off to a quick start, building a 16-4 advantage on a Markel Jenkins layup at the 14:38 mark of the first half.
- The first half lead remained in double-figures and ballooned to a game-high 16 points, at 34-18, on a Justin Feldman conversion with 3:22 left before the intermission.
- The Knights scored eight of the final 11 points of the half to pull to within 37-26 heading into the intermission.
- Cyran converted a free throw and a layup with seven seconds left in the period to spark the closing run for the Mount.
- Mount Saint Mary shot 35.5-percent from the floor over the opening 20 minutes, but went just 1-for-10 from three-point range.
- Cobleskill shot 41.2-percent for the half and hit on three triples.
- Cyran led the Knights with eight first half points.
- Feldman led all scorers at the break for the Tigers with 11 points.
Second Half
- Cobleskill maintained a double-digit advantage until the 15:28 mark of the second half when a Jayden Racca (New Fairfield, Conn.) three-pointer cut the Mount's disadvantage to 44-35.
- Following a Jayden Figueroa (New Windsor, N.Y.) bucket cut the deficit to seven, Cobleskill built its lead back to 47-37 with 13:19 left in regulation time.
- Mount Saint Mary whittled its deficit to just four points on a Cyran three-pointer just past the midway point of the period.
- The Knights would not be able to pull closer than the four-point gap until late stages of the half when Chris Yearwood (Red Hook, N.Y.) drained a three-pointer to make the score 57-55 in favor of the visitors.
- The Knights pulled even at 57-57 on an Elijah Barnett (Poughkeepsie, N.Y.) bucket and pushed in front for the first time in the game on a Racca bucket with 4:25 left in regulation time.
- The Knights would hold a lead as large as four points on two occasions, but could not pull away any further.
- Starting with a Jenkins bucket that gave Cobleskill back a 64-63 lead with 1:09 left, the two teams traded the lead five times.
- After falling behind 66-65 with 36 seconds left, Figueroa stepped to the free-throw line with 22 seconds remaining and nailed a pair of free-throws to get the Knights back in front 67-66.
- After the Figueroa free-throws, Iziah Pigott converted what proved to be the deciding bucket on a put back off his own miss in the closing seconds to give the Tigers the final one-point decision.
- The Knights had a possesion at the horn, but were unable to get a shot off.
- The Mount shot an even 50-percent from the floor after halftime and went 3-for-9 from three-point range.
- Cobleskill cooled to 35.5-percent shooting overall and went just 2-for-12 from behind the arc.
- Yearwood led the Knights in the second half with nine points.
- Pigott paced the Tigers with nine second half points, including the game winning points.
For The Knights
- Cyran paced the Mount with 15 points, going 6-for-13 from the floor with two three-pointers. He added five rebounds, an assist, a block and a steal.
- Yearwood poured in 14 points on 6-for-13 shooting to go along with team-highs in assists with four and steals with four.
- Ryan Graham (Campbell Hall, N.Y.) scored in double-figures for the second time this season, netting a season-high 13 points on 5-for-11 shooting.
- Figueroa closed the night with a game-high 16 rebounds and five blocked shots while scoring eight points.
For The Tigers
- Jenkins closed the night with a game-high 18 points on an efficient 7-for-10 shooting performance. He finished off a strong all-around game with eight rebounds, four assists, a block and a steal.
- Feldman chipped in 13 points and a team-high 13 rebounds.
- JaNyve Smith added 11 points and three assists.
Game Statistics
- Mount Saint Mary closed the game shooting 42.9-percent overall and went 4-for-19 from three-point range.
- Cobleskill was held to 38.5-percent shooting and went just 5-for-25 from three-point range.
- Cobleskill outscored the Mount 13-9 from the free-throw line.
- The Knights finished with a 22-14 edge in points off of turnovers.
- Cobleskill secured 20 offensive rebounds and translated those into a commanding 26-9 edge in second chance scoring.
What's Next
- Mount Saint Mary opens Skyline Conference play on Saturday when it travels to Yeshiva.
- Cobleskill begins NAC play when it plays host to SUNY Delhi Saturday afternoon.
