(Buffalo, NY) – The Medaille College men's basketball team opened the 2010-2011 slate with a (82-70) home loss to John Carroll University, who came into the Sullivan Center as the nations 18th ranked team. The Blue Streak's jumped on the Mavs early and raced out to a (48-29) halftime lead. They would stretch that margin to 20 points early in the second half before Medaille began to chip away at the lead.
Over the course of the next eleven minutes the Mavs managed to draw within three points (64-61) with (8:04) remaining. Using some clutch shooting and defensive stops to close the gap. However, John Carroll was able to weather the storm and keep the Mavs at arms length en route to the non-conference win.
The Mavs received strong performances from a trio of seniors as Ron Malicki (Machias, NY/Pioneer) tallied a game high (25) points on (9 of 14) shooting, while pulling down (6) boards and blocking (3) shots. Guard Ricky Reed (Henrietta, NY/Rush-Henrietta) chipped in with (15) points, connecting on (7 of 14) from the field while Joe Mogavero (Kenmore, NY/Kenmore West) was a monster on the boards, pulling down a game and career high (14) caroms.
As a team the Mavs shot well from the field, finishing at (52.9%) overall and (47.1%) from behind the arc. However, their struggles at the charity stripe (44.4%) and (19) first half turnovers doomed the Mavs.
They start out at (0-1) and will look to rebound on Wednesday (11/17) as they head to Geneseo State for an 8:00pm tipoff.