Newburgh, N.Y. – The Mount Saint Mary College Men's Basketball team played the middle game of a three-game homestand Saturday afternoon and suffered a 77-64 Skyline Conference loss to visiting Manhattanville.
Jayden Racca (New Fairfield, Conn.) led four Knights in double-figures with a career-high 16 points.
Saturday's loss drops Mount Saint Mary to 8-15 overall on the season and 5-9 in Skyline Conference play, while Manhattanville improves to 17-6 and 10-4 in league play. Through Saturday's results, Mount Saint Mary clings to the final berth in the Skyline Conference Championship, while Manhattanville remains in a three-way tie for first place in the Skyline Conference North Division.
First Half
- The Knights jumped out in front 5-0 in the early going following an Elijah Barnett (Poughkeepsie, N.Y.) bucket and a three-pointer from Ryan Graham (Campbell Hall, N.Y.).
- The early five-point lead for the Mount would be the largest for either team until back-to-back triples for Manhattanville pushed the Valiants in front 16-10 with 13:54 left in the opening period.
- Manhattanville maintained the lead until the 9:25 mark of the half when Racca converted a three-point play to move the Knights back in front 21-19.
- The Valiants answered with the next six points, pulling back in front 25-21 on a Jackson Leech conversion with 7:18 left before halftime.
- An Andrew Saint-Louis three-pointer gave the Valiants a 31-24 lead with just over three minutes left in the half and the basket started a quick 6-0 run that gave the visitors a 34-24 lead.
- Mount Saint Mary answered with the final four points of the period, conversions from Jayden Figueroa (New Windsor, N.Y.) and Connor Cyran (Garfield, N.J.), to cut its disadvantage to 34-28 heading into halftime.
- Mount Saint Mary was limited to 30.3-percent shooting in the opening 20 minutes and went 3-for-10 from three-point range.
- Manhattanville shot an efficient 52.0-percent overall, including a 5-for-10 showing from three-point range.
- Graham paced the Mount at the break with nine points.
- Leech led all scorers at the break with 11 points for Manhattanville after going 5-for-8 from the floor.
Second Half
- Mount Saint Mary pushed its run to 8-0 with the first four points of the second half, getting buckets from Cyran and Barnett, to slash its disadvantage to 34-32 just over a minute into the second frame.
- The Valiants answered with the next 12 points, highlighted by three-point plays from Ryan Giordano and Jake Dunn, to spread its lead to 46-32 with 16:10 left to play.
- The Manhattanville lead stayed in double-figures until back-to-back buckets from Jordan Rush (Valhalla, N.Y.) and Racca to pull to within 50-43.
- Mount Saint Mary cut the disadvantage to seven points on one other occasions before a Saint-Louis triple pushed the Valiants back in front 57-47.
- A Lotito three-pointer made the Manhattanville lead 64-51 with 6:26 left to play and the Valiants would not allow the Knights closer than eight points the rest of the way.
- Four straight free-throws form the visitors in the final minute moved the Manhattanville advantage to the final 77-64 decision.
- Mount Saint Mary improved to 45.7-percent shooting after halftime, but went just 1-for-9 from three-point range.
- Manhattanville converted at 47.6-percent in the second half and went 4-for-11 from long range.
- Barnett led the Mount with nine points after the break on 4-for-6 shooting.
- Racca tallied eight times in the second half and collected five rebounds.
- Saint-Louis poured in 11 points for Manhattanville in the second half on the strength of a 5-for-7 effort from the free-throw line.
For The Knights
- Racca reached his career-high point total on 6-for-11 shooting from the floor. He closed out a strong all-around game with team-highs in rebounds with eight and assists with four.
- Barnett scored 12 points for the Mount on 5-for-11 shooting, adding seven rebounds and two assists.
- Figueroa closed the day with 10 points and six rebounds.
- Graham totaled 10 points, an assist and a steal.
- Cyran closed the contest with eight points and five boards for the Knights.
For The Valiants
- Saint-Louis came off the bench to lead all scorers with 17 points, going a perfect 4-for-4 from three-point range.
- Leech finished with 16 points and a game-high nine rebounds, adding four assists, two blocks and a trio of steals.
- Lotito scored 13 points, collected eight rebounds, led all players with five assists and swiped three steals.
- Dunn chipped in 10 points and collected two steals.
Game Statistics
- Mount Saint Mary shot 38.2-percent from the floor and went 4-for-19 from three-point range.
- Manhattanville shot an even 50.0-percent, including 42.9-percent (9-for-21) from three-point range.
- The Valiants outscored the Mount 22-8 from the free-throw line.
- The Knights finished with a 19-7 advantage in second chance scoring and a 40-26 edge in paint points.
- Manhattanville outscored the Mount 19-15 off of turnovers and 24-6 in transition.
What's Next
- The Knights close out the home schedule on Tuesday against Maritime.
- Manhattanville plays host to USMMA on Tuesday.
