Newburgh, NY- The Mount Saint Mary College Knights (2-11, 0-4 Skyline) fell 67-53 to the SUNY Maritime Privateers (8-4, 3-0 Skyline) Wednesday night at the Kaplan Recreation Center. Despite a valiant second-half effort, the Knights were unable to recover from a slow start that ultimately cost them the game.
"We hurt ourselves with too many mistakes that make the game much more difficult for us to overcome," Head Coach Ryan Kadlubowski said. "Offensively and defensively we had our struggles, and we need to do better. We need to put ourselves in better positions in the first half of games so we aren't constantly trying to dig ourselves out of a hole in the second."
The Knights got off to a sluggish start, trailing by double digits for most of the first half. Jayden Figueroa led the way with 15 points and 11Â rebounds, but the team struggled to find consistent offensive rhythm. Connor Cyran added 14 points and three steals, while Ryan Graham chipped in with three points and a steal.
The Knights battled back in the second half, cutting the deficit to as little as eight points with under five minutes remaining. However, Maritime was able to hold them off down the stretch to secure the victory.
Despite the loss, there were some bright spots for the Knights. The team shot 76.5% from the free throw line in the second half, a significant improvement over their 63.6% mark in the first. Additionally, the bench contributed 18 points, led by Miles Calame's three-point effort.
However, the team's 34.0% shooting for the game and 16.7% three-point shooting ultimately proved costly. They also turned the ball over nine times compared to Maritime's five, leading to eight points off turnovers for the Privateers.
The Knights will look to bounce back when they host the Manhattanville College Valiants (5-6, 3-2 Skyline) on Saturday at 12 PM.
Key Stats:
- Leading Scorers: Figueroa (MSMC) 15 points, Murphy (Maritime) 18 points
- Rebounding: MSMC 29, Maritime 36
- Assists: MSMC 6, Maritime 11
- Turnovers: MSMC 9, Maritime 5
- Three-pointers: MSMC 4-24, Maritime 12-27
