The Mounts Second Half Rally Comes Up Short

THROGGS NECK – The Mount Saint Mary College Men’s Basketball team took to the road Saturday afternoon and came up just short at Maritime, suffering a 72-69 loss to the Privateers. Four Knights scored in double-figures in the game, led by 14 from Chris Yearwood.

Saturday’s loss, the Mount’s third straight, drops it to 4-10 overall on the season and 1-4 in Skyline Conference play, while Maritime improves to 6-7 overall and 2-2 in league action.

First Half
Tightly contested through the opening four minutes of play, the Knights pulled to within 10-9 on a Yearwood three-pointer 3:54 into the contest.

A Jayden Figueroa lay-up made the score 14-11 before Maritime used a 7-0 run to surge in front 21-11 on a Jovan Germain bucket with 11:47 left before halftime.

Brendan Graham stopped the run with a triple for the Knights before Robbie Mitchell hit a three-pointer of his own to push the Maritime advantage back to double-figures at 24-14.

Connor Cyran canned another triple for the Mount to cut the disadvantage to 24-17, but Maritime responded again with the next five points to open a 29-17 advantage.

The Knights pulled to within eight points on a Elijah Barnett bucket, but that would be the Mount’s last field goal for nearly four minutes.

Maritime took advantage with eight straight points to pull in front 37-21 on a Mitchell lay-in with 4:41 left before halftime.

Cyran stopped the Mount’s scoring drought with a bucket at the 4:28 mark of the opening period and started a modest 8-4 closing run for the Mount that brought it to within 41-29 after 20 minutes of action.

Mount Saint Mary shot just 38.7-percent over the opening 20 minutes and went 3-for-11 from three-point range.

Maritime converted at an efficient 51.6-percent from the floor knocked in five three-pointers.

Second Half
Maritime spread its lead out to 48-31 on an Aleksander Begovic basket at the 16:25 mark of the second stanza.

The Maritime advantage remained in double-figures until the 12:17 mark of the second half when B. Graham converted a lay-up to bring the Knights to within 51-43.

The Knights later sliced their deficit to just six points when Yearwood hit a three-pointer with 10:09 left to play to make the score 54-48.

Theo Noble answered with a three-pointer for Maritime to push the lead back to nine points before a pair of Mitchell free-throws moved the advantage back to double-figures at 64-53 with 4:27 left to play.

Mount Saint Mary put together a 7-1 run covering just over two minutes capped by a Yearwood triple with 2:24 left to bring the Knights to within 64-60.

The Knights whittled the disadvantage down to a single basket when another Yearwood triple made the score 69-67 with 17 seconds left in the contest.

Maritime connected on three of four free-throws to hold off the Mount Saint Mary surge and secure the three-point victory.

Mount Saint Mary improved to 51.6-percent shooting after halftime and hit on three triples.

Maritime slipped to 38.9-percent shooting, connecting on a trio of three-pointers, and outscored the Mount 14-5 from the free-throw line after halftime.

For The Knights
Yearwood led the Mount scoring attack with 14 points on the strength of four three-pointers. He added a team-high three assists for the Knights.

Cyran scored 13 points, going 5-for-8 from the floor, to go along with eight rebounds and two assists.

Barnett chipped in 10 points and closed a double-double with a game-high 10 rebounds.

B. Graham came off the bench to score 11 points, contributing four rebounds and a pair of assists.

Figueroa rounded out the day with nine points and a team-high three steals.

For The Privateers
Noble led all scorers in the game with 15 points, connecting on three triples, with adding five rebounds and three assists.

Ryan Donovan supported the offense with 14 points to go along with five rebounds and three steals.

Mitchell chipped in 12 points and four assists while matching the team-high with five rebounds.

Tyler Anderson finished with 11 points and handed out three assists.