NEWBURGH – Led by 21 points from Elijah Barnett and a double-double from Jayden Figueroa, the Mount Saint Mary College Men’s Basketball team used a big second half to pull away for its first win of the season, an 80-57 victory over visiting CCNY.
Saturday’s win evens the Mount’s record at 1-1 through the season’s first two games, while the Beavers fall to 0-2.
First Half
A tightly contested first half featured seven ties and eight lead changes.
The Knights used an 8-0 run in the later stages of the opening period to open a 24-16 advantage.
Chris Yearwood broke a 16-16 tie with a jumper and scored six points over the run, capping the stretch with a bucket at the 4:41 mark of the opening period.
A Brenden Graham three-pointer with just under two minutes left in the half pushed the Knights in front 29-20.
A Figueroa dunk with eight seconds left in the half moved the Mount in front 34-23, matching their largest lead of the half.
Yassine Sakhi answered with a triple at the horn to send the two teams into the break with the Mount leading 34-28.
Mount Saint Mary shot 48.1-percent from the floor in the opening half and connected on four triples.
CCNY was held to 32.1-percent shooting in the opening 20 minutes and also made four three-pointers.
Connor Cyran, Figueroa and Yearwood all finished the first half with six points with Figueroa adding five rebounds and a pair of blocks.
Sakhi led all scorers at the break with 12 points for CCNY, adding four assists.
Second Half
CCNY came out of the break on a 12-4 run over the first 2:20 of the second half to surge in front 42-40.
CCNY went 5-for-5 from the floor over the run, including two triples.
A B. Graham bucket that pushed the Mount in front 44-42 gave the Knights for lead for good in the game and started a 14-2 stretch for the Knights.
Five different players scored for the Mount over the run, including seven points from Barnett who capped the run with a pair of free-throws to give the Knights a 56-44 lead with 11:17 left to play.
The Knights’ lead grew to 69-49 on a Justin Rivera bucket with 5:32 left in the second half.
Rivera later pushed the Knights in front by a game-high 25 points with a pair of free-throws with 91 seconds left, giving the Knights an 80-55 advantage.
Skahi converted a layup in the final half minute to bring the Beavers to within the final 80-57 decision.
Mount Saint Mary converted at an efficient 57.1-percent in the second half and outscored CCNY 14-6 from the free-throw line after the break.
CCNY shot 38.5-percent in the second half, knocking in three second half triples.
Barnett scored 17 points after halftime on 6-for-8 shooting and a 5-for-6 effort from the free-throw line.
Sakhi and Michael Bowman led the CCNY attack after halftime with eight points apiece.
For The Knights
Barnett poured in a game-high 21 points on 8-for-12 shooting, adding three rebounds, two assists and two steals.
Figueroa had a big afternoon for the Knights, finishing a double-double with 13 points and a game-high 10 rebounds. He swatted five blocks and added two steals.
In his second career game, Rivera finished with a career-high 10 points off the bench and swiped two steals.
B. Graham also added a career-high 10 points, adding three rebounds.
Yearwood led the team with three assists and chipped in nine points.
Cyran hauled in seven rebounds and scored eight points.
For The Beavers
Sakhi led the team with 20 points and five assists.
Daniel Piszczarowski tallied 10 points and posted a team-high seven rebounds.
Bowman finished up with eight points and a pair of steals.