Mount Saint Mary Tripped Up At St. Joseph’s-L.I.

PATCHOGUE – The Mount Saint Mary College Men’s Basketball team took to the road on Saturday afternoon, dropping a 76-57 Skyline Conference decision at St. Joseph’s-L.I. Connor Cyran led the Mount Saint Mary scoring attack with a team-high 14 points.

Saturday’s loss, the Mount’s second straight defeat, drops it to 5-8 overall on the season and 3-2 in Skyline Conference play. The Golden Eagles creep above the .500 mark at 8-7 overall and improve to 4-4 in conference competition.

First Half
After trailing by four points in the early going, the Knights ripped off seven straight points, including a three-pointer from Jack Lotito, to pull in front 9-6 just over five minutes into the contest.

The Knights maintained the lead until the 12:40 mark of the period when Ryan McNeely canned a triple for the Golden Eagles to give them back a 13-11 edge.

J.P Egan (Lansdale, Pa.) brought the Knights even at 17-17 at the 10:21 mark of the opening stanza with a jumper before St. Joseph’s scored the next four points to regain a 21-17 edge with 6:48 left before halftime.

Jayden Figueroa hit a pair of free-throws with 4:52 left in the half to give the Knights a slim 27-26 advantage and a Cyran conversion at the 2:56 mark put the Knights out front 29-27.

Following the Cyran bucket, the Knights would manage just four more points in the half and the Golden Eagles scored the final four points of the frame, including a Jake Gaudiello triple in the closing seconds, to give St. Joseph’s a 39-33 lead at the intermission.

Mount Saint Mary converted at an efficient 51.9-percent from the floor in the opening 20 minutes and connected on a trio of three-pointers.

St. Joseph’s shot better than 59-percent from the floor before halftime, also hitting on three triples.

Cyran led the Mount at the break with nine points, going 4-for-6 from the floor.

Spencer Malloy led all players at the break for St. Joseph’s with 10 tallies.

Second Half
St. Joseph’s came out of the break and scored the first 10 points of the second half, keyed by three-pointers from Gaudiello and Matthew Hirdt, to open a 49-33 lead.

Mount Saint Mary was held without a field goal in the second half until the 15:06 mark when Jayden Racca hit a three-pointer to cut the disadvantage to 49-36.

The 13-point deficit following the Racca three-pointer would be as close as the Knights would get, as St. Joseph’s answered back with a Gaudiello three-pointer on the next possession to spread the lead back to 16 points.

Following the Gaudiello three-pointer, the Golden Eagles would keep the Knights behind by at least 14 points and grabbed a game-high 76-55 advantage on a Kevin O’Halloran trey with 12 seconds left.

Tom Spero converted a bucket at the horn to bring the Knights to within the final 76-57 decision.

Mount Saint Mary cooled to 40-percent shooting in the second half, including a 3-for-8 effort from three-point range.

St. Joseph’s shot just over 44-percent after halftime and connected on five second half three-pointers.

Ryan Graham led the Knights in the second half with seven points.

St. Joseph’s was paced by 10 second half points from Gaudiello.

For The Knights
Cyran reached double-figures for the fifth time this season for the Knights with his 14 points. He closed the day 6-for-12 from the floor, including a pair of triples, to go along with four rebounds, a block and a steal.

Figueroa hauled in eight rebounds, adding eight points and a team-high three assists.
Graham and Racca each totaled seven points with Graham chipping in four rebounds and a pair of assists.

For The Golden Eagles

Gaudiello and Alec Tabada led the scoring charge with 15 points apiece. Gaudiello connected on a trio of triples, swiped four steals and dished out eight assists, while Tabada hauled in eight rebounds and blocked four shots.

Malloy wrapped up the win with 14 points, seven rebounds and three assists.

Hirdt came off the bench to score 12 points on 5-for-9 shooting, adding three helpers.

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