NEWBURGH – The Mount Saint Mary College Men’s Basketball team picked up its fifth win in the last six outings and moved to 3-0 in conference play with an impressive 66-49 home win over St. Joseph’s-Brooklyn Saturday afternoon. Chris Yearwood led the way with 20 points as the Mount knocked in a season-high 14 three-point field goals.
After starting the season 0-6, Mount Saint Mary moves to within a game of the .500 mark at 5-6 overall and improves to a perfect 3-0 in Skyline Conference play. The win is the third straight for the Mount over the Bears and the seventh in nine meetings.
First Half
The Knights went 9-for-20 from three-point range and just 3-for-6 from inside the arc in the opening 20 minutes in building a 38-26 halftime advantage.
After St. Joseph’s-Brooklyn cut an early Mount Saint Mary lead to 7-5, the Knights spread their lead to 19-8 following triples from J.P. Egan, Jayden Racca, Yearwood and Connor Cyran.
The Bears stopped the run with a Samil Melo bucket before the Knights blew the game open with a 13-1 run covering 2:35. The Knights knocked in three more triples over the run and went 5-for-5 from the field overall.
The Knights spread their lead to a half-high 22 points on another Yearwood three with 6:44 left before halftime and maintained a lead of at least 16 points until a 7-0 closing run from the Bears sliced the Mount’s halftime lead to 38-26.
Mount Saint Mary went without a field goal after a Jaxon Baker three-point play with 3:53 left before halftime.
Mount Saint Mary closed the half shooting 46.2-percent overall and 45-percent from three-point range.
The Bears were held to 36.7-percent shooting and struggled from three-point range (1-for-10) and the free-throw line (3-for-7).
Yearwood finished the half 4-for-7 from three-point range, leading all scorers with 12 points.
Second Half
Yearwood canned the Mount’s 10th three of the game in the opening possession of the second half to push the lead out to 15 points, before four straight points from the Bears pulled them to within 41-30 with 16:57 left in regulation time.
St. Joseph’s would get as close as 11 points once more in the second half, but would not be able to get the disadvantage under that the rest of the way.
After the Bears climbed within 44-33, Zack Swaby came on to bury a three-pointer and convert a layup around a St. Joseph’s bucket to push the Mount’s lead back out to 14 points.
The Mount ballooned its lead back out to 63-42 on a Jack Lotito bucket with 2:36 left and gained a game-high 65-42 advantage after a pair of Lotito free-throws with 1:23 left to play.
Mount Saint Mary cooled to 32.1-percent shooting in the second half, but remained efficient from three-point range after connecting on five of its 12 attempts from long range.
St. Joseph’s was held to 24.1-percent shooting overall and went without a three-pointer in 10 attempts. The Bears continued to struggle from the free-throw line after going 9-for-20 from the stripe in the second half.
Yearwood knocked in two more triples in the second half, leading the Knights with eight points after halftime.
For The Knights
Yearwood scored 20 points for the third straight game and tallied as many as 20 points for the sixth time in 11 games. He finished with an even 20 points on 7-for-18 shooting, including six treys. He added a team-high five assists, three steals and a blocked shot.
Baker scored a career-high 11 points and contributed four rebounds and four assists to the winning effort.
Jayden Figueroa led the team with 12 rebounds and just missed a double-double with nine points to go along with two assists.
Racca came off the bench to notch eight points.
Lotito rounded out the win with four points, four rebounds and three assists.
For The Bears
Chris Mikos led the team with 13 points on 6-for-13 shooting, adding 12 rebounds, four assists two blocks and a steal.
Evan Sirakis chipped in 10 points and a pair of steals.
Richie Simon led all players with 13 rebounds and added eight points.
Game Statistics
Mount Saint Mary shot just under 39-percent overall in the game, but went 14-for-32 (43.8-percent) from three-point range.
St. Joseph’s was held to 30.5-percent shooting and a 1-for-20 effort from three-point range.
The Bears outscored the Mount 12-10 from the free-throw line, but converted at just 44.4-percent from the charity stripe.
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