Purchase, N.Y. – Elijah Barnett (Poughkeepsie, N.Y.) led four players in double-figures with 14 points and
Jayden Figueroa (New Windsor, N.Y.) recorded a double-double on Saturday afternoon as the Mount Saint Mary College Men's Basketball collected its first conference win of the season with a 65-59 road win over Purchase.
Saturday's win stops a three-game losing streak for the Knights and moves them to 3-7 overall on the year and 1-2 against league rivals. Purchase falls to 5-5 overall through 10 games and 1-3 against conference rivals.
First Half
- Purchase opened the scoring with a Mark Morgan three-pointer 29 seconds into the contest that gave the Panthers a 3-0 advantage.
- Mount Saint Mary would tie the score twice over the first 4:44 of tilt, but would not take its first lead until a Justin Rivera (Hazlet, N.J.) triple gave it a 10-7 advantage.
- After gaining the advantage, the Mount would not trail again in the half.
- After Purchase knotted the score at 12-12, the Knights ripped off six straight points, capped by a Connor Cyran (Garfield, N.J.) three-pointer to build their advantage out to 18-12.
- A Ryan Graham (Campbell Hall, N.Y.) trey gave the Knights a 26-19 advantage with 8:28 left before halftime.
- Purchase sliced its disadvantage to 27-24 on an Isaac Johnson jumper, but the Mount responded with another 6-0 stretch to spread its lead to 33-24 with 2:24 left in the half.
- The Knights did not allow Purchase closer than five points the remainder of the half and used a Cyran three-pointer with 1:23 left in the half to grab a 41-31 lead, the advantage the Knights would take into the intermission.
- Mount Saint Mary shot an efficient 50.0-percent (12-for-24) prior to halftime, including a 5-for-9 effort from three-point range.
- Purchase was held to 36.7-percent shooting in the opening period and struggled from distance with a 3-for-14 showing from behind the arc.
- Graham led the Mount's first have scoring attack with 11 points, highlighted by two three-pointers.
- Matthew Phillips led Purchase before halftime with nine points.
Second Half
- The Knights pushed their lead to 43-31 on a Figueroa lay-in in the first minute of the second stanza.
- The Mount's lead ballooned to 14 points when Barnett canned a jumper just under four minutes after the intermission.
- Purchase put together an 8-0 run in just under a minute keyed by triples from Elijah Holmes and Morgan to pull to within 49-46 with 12:22 left in regulation time.
- Jayden Racca (New Fairfield, Conn.) stopped the run with a jumper to get the Mount back out in front by five points.
- The Panthers would get its deficit down to three points on two more occasions, but would not be able to get any closer.
- Barnet converted a layup with 7:22 left to push the Mount's lead out to 58-50.
- Purchase closed the gap to five points twice over the final 6:42, but two Chris Yearwood (Red Hook, N.Y.) free-throws spread the advantage back to 65-56 with 17 seconds left to play.
- Purchase got one final three-pointer from Morgan in the closing seconds to get the deficit to the final 65-59 advantage for the Knights.
- Mount Saint Mary cooled to just 29.6-percent shooting after halftime and went without a three-pointer in eight attempts.
- Purchase converted at 35.7-percent after the break and went 4-for-9 from bonus distance.
- Barnett led the way after halftime for the Knights with eight points.
- Morgan and Terrence Mason led the Panthers with nine second half points apiece.
For The Knights
- Barnett finished with a team-high 14 points on 5-for-11 shooting overall and a perfect 4-for-4 showing from the free-throw line. He added six rebounds and three steals to the winning effort.
- Graham netted 12 points, connecting on two triples, and collected two rebounds.
- Cyran chipped in 11 points, four rebounds and a team-high three assists.
- Figueroa notched a double-double with 10 points and a game and season-high 18 rebounds.
For The Panthers
- Morgan recorded a game-high 15 points on the strength of a 4-for-10 showing from behind the arc. He added five rebounds for the Panthers.
- Johnson and Holmes each came off the bench to score 10 points and collect seven rebounds apiece. Holmes led all players in the game with five assists.
- Phillips led the team with eight rebounds and joined Mason with nine points.
Game Statistics
- Mount Saint Mary finished the day shooting 39.2-percent overall and 29.4-percent from three-point range.
- Purchase shot 36.2-percent for the day and went 7-for-23 from three-point range.
- Mount Saint Mary outscored Purchase from the free-throw line 20-10.
- The Knights finished the day with a 26-20 advantage in paint points.
What's Next
- The Knights host Rutgers-Newark on Wednesday in their final game before the Holiday Break.
- Purchase plays host to Hunter on Tuesday.
