Old Westbury, N.Y. – The College of Mount Saint Vincent Men's Basketball team was defeated on the road Thursday night at Old Westbury, falling to the Panthers 86-84. Junior Yeuri Santos (New York, N.Y.) paced the Dolphins with 21 points, while Chris Bonaventura (Staten Island, N.Y.) and Mark Waite (Chicago, Ill.) each recorded six steals.
The game was tightly contested for the full 40 minutes on Thursday and featured 14 ties and 27 lead changes. The largest lead of the tilt came at the 6:53 mark of the first half when Cody Gauvard (Rockaway, N.Y.) pushed the Mount in front 31-25 with a lay-in on the fast break.
From that point, the two teams would each make a run, with Old Westbury pulling in front 32-31 with 6:04 on the clock after a 7-0 spurt and the Dolphins pulling front by five after a 6-0 run keyed by a four point play from Shaquille Cunningham (Brooklyn, N.Y.) with 3:37 left before the break.
The final 3:37 of the half would feature three lead changes, with the final one coming on a Everard Bisnauth triple at the buzzer to push Old Westbury in front 44-42 after 20 minutes of action.
The high paced first half saw each team shoot well from the field, with Old Westbury converting 54.5-percent of its chances and the Mount cashing in on 47.1-percent of its opportunities. Joshua Hill had a huge first 20 minutes for Old Westbury after going 9-for-9 from the floor on his way to 19 points. Cunningham led the Mount with 11 tallies before the half.
Santos would come out of the intermission and quickly tie the game for the 10th time, before the teams went on to trade the lead five times over the next two minutes. After Rob Sanders tied the game at 51-51 for Old Westbury, the Dolphins picked up a bit of breathing room after back-to-back conversions from Michael Knott (Rockaway Beach, N.Y.) and Santos to pull in front 55-51 with 16:19 remaining in regulation.
The Dolphins would hold onto the lead until Sanders pushed the Panthers back in front 58-57 with 12:31 to play. From there the Mount ran off seven straight points with the help of four points from D'Andre McPhatter (Bronx, N.Y.) to pull back in front 65-59 at the 10:38 mark.
The six point lead the Dolphins held at the midway point of the period would be the largest of the stanza and the two teams went back to trading the lead after an 8-1 run by Old Westbury.
Over the final 6:33 of regulation time, the score would be tied three times and the lead would change hands on five occasions until one final spurt from the home standing Panthers. With the score tied at 77-77 with 2:32 to play, Mitchell Kerel knocked in a pair of free-throws for Old Westbury to push it in front for the final time of the night.
Omari Trebuse put Old Westbury up by four with 1:35 to play and Panthers would hold off the Dolphins over the final 90 seconds. A Santos lay-up with 11 seconds left sliced the lead to one and after a missed free-throw by Hill, Bonaventura had a three-pointer in the final second blocked to secure the league win for Old Westbury.
Overall for the night, Mount Saint Vincent shot just under 48-percent from the field and scored at least 80 points for the fourth straight game. The Dolphins knocked down six triples in the game, but struggled from the free-throw line after going just 10-for-22.
Santos finished with a career-high after going 10-for-12 from the floor and pulling in five rebounds. He scored 15 of his team-high 21 points after halftime and finished the second 20 minutes 7-for-9 from the field. He also added an assist and a steal.
Cunningham continued his standout junior season after tallying 17 points and pulling down four rebounds. He recorded five assists and also came up with three steals on the night. Gauvard also showed double-figures for the Mount with 10 points to go along with four rebounds.
Bonaventura had a solid game for the Dolphins after handing out seven assists and swiping six steals. He also chipped in with seven points in the contest. Waite joined Bonaventura with six steals and contributed six points and five rebounds.
Hill led the Panthers with 23 points on perfect 10-for-10 shooting but was limited to just four after the intermission. He was one of five Old Westbury players in double-figures as the Panthers finished the night shooting just under 64-percent from the floor and just over 42-percent from behind the arc.
The loss is Mount Saint Vincent's third straight and drops it to 3-9 overall and to 1-4 in Skyline Conference play. The Dolphins will look to snap their skid on Thursday when they welcome Mount Saint Mary to the Peter Jay Sharp Center. Tip-off with the Knights is slated for 7:00 p.m.