MSMC Knights Are Bested By St. Joseph’s-L.I.

NEWBURGH – The Mount Saint Mary College Men’s Basketball team was upended Thursday evening by St. Joseph’s-L.I., falling the visiting Gold Eagles by a score of 91-63. Two Knights scored in double-figures in the game, led by 15 points from Connor Cyran.

Thursday’s loss drops Mount Saint Mary to 5-12 overall on the season and 2-6 in conference play, while St. Joseph’s gets over the .500 mark overall at 8-7 while improving to 5-2 in Skyline Conference action.

First Half
The Golden Eagles opened the game up early, scoring the first 10 points of the contest.

The Knights were held off the board until the 16:55 mark of the first half when Chris Yearwood connected on a three-pointer.

The Knights would then go better than two minutes without scoring while St. Joseph’s built a 19-3 lead on a Matthew Hirdt three-pointer with 14:52 left before halftime.

The Mount would pull to within 11 points, at 19-8, following a three-point play from Brenden Graham at the 14:11 mark of the first half.

The Golden Eagles responded with the next nine points to open a 28-8 lead on a three-point play from Alec Tabada.

The first half lead would remain at at least 15 points for the visitors and grew to 53-26 on a Spencer Malloy layup with 44 seconds left in the opening frame before St. Joseph’s took a 54-26 advantage into the intermission.

St. Joseph’s shot an efficient 56.6-percent from the floor in the opening 20 minutes, including a 7-for-16 effort from behind the arc.

Mount Saint Mary was held to 36.7-percent shooting prior to the break and went 4-for-12 from long range.

Second Half
St. Joseph’s opened the second half on an 11-0 run, capped by a Xavier Allen bucket with 16:18 left to play, to open a 65-28 lead.

Mount Saint Mary put together a 11-0 run in the middle stages of the second half, highlighted by seven points from Cyran to cut its deficit to 68-47.

The Knights climbed to within 76-59 on a Matthew Walsh bucket with 5:46 left to play, but would be unable to pull any closer.

St. Joseph’s held the Knights to just one field goal after the Walsh conversion to finish off the final 91-63 decision.

The Golden Eagles improved their shooting in the second half to 59.3-percent overall and hit on three more triples.

Mount Saint Mary improved to 45.6-percent shooting after the break and outscored the visitors 10-2 from the free-throw line in the second stanza.

For The Knights
Cyran finished the evening with a team-high 15 points after going 6-for-10 from the floor with a pair of three-pointers. He added a pair of rebounds and a team-high three steals.

Jayden Racca also scored in double-figures, producing 10 points to go along with a team-high five rebounds.

Yearwood and Miles Calame each scored nine points.

B. Graham totaled eight points, two rebounds, two assists and a pair of steals.

Elijah Barnett led the Knights with three assists.

For The Golden Eagles
Allen led all players with 26 points after going 10-for-17 from the floor with a trio of triples.

He finished off a big night with nine caroms and two steals.

Tabada came off the bench to net 25 points and finished off a double-double with a game-high 13 rebounds.

Ryan McNeeley tallied 11 points off the bench, adding four rebounds and three assists.

Jake Gaudiello handed out nine helpers, swiped four steals and chipped in eight points.

HIrdt tallied eight points and recorded six assists.