Riverdale, N.Y. – The College of Mount Saint Vincent Men's Basketball team fell for the tenth straight outing on Monday night following a 97-79 loss to league foe Sage. Junior Anthony Woods (West Palm Beach, Fla.) was one of three Dolphins in double-figures on the night, netting a career-high 18 points.
The two teams would battle to three ties over the first 5:26 of the contest, before the visitors put together a 17-6 run over a span of 4:29 to pull in front 26-15 on a Ryan LaBelle jumper midway through the opening period. The Gators went 7-for-9 from the floor over that stretch and featured five different scorers.
Mount Saint Vincent would answer with a run of its own to get back to within a point on an Antonio Johnson (Fort Johnson, N.Y.) triple with just over six minutes left before halftime. Woods hit a three to start a 12-2 spurt for the Mount over nearly three minutes before Johnson bookended the run with his trey. Johnson and Woods combined to score 10 of the 12 points over the run to get the Mount to within 30-29.
Johnson would later tie the score at 32-32 with a lay-in at the 5:09 mark of the half and Kahlil Shorter (Staten Island, N.Y.) gave the Mount its first lead since 10-9 with a conversion inside to push the Mount in front 34-32 with just under five minutes remaining in the half.
Kai Deans quickly got the Gators back even with a pair of free-throws that started a 17-7 run to close the half. The Gators went 5-for-7 from the field over the final 4:36 of the period on their way to a 49-41 advantage at the intermission.
Both teams shot better than 40-percent from the floor in the opening 20 minutes, with Sage converting on 47.1-percent of its chances and the Dolphins converting at a 42.9-percent clip. Woods led the Dolphins with 13 points at the break on 5-for-6 shooting, while Jeff Stopera led all scorers with 15 points, after going 10-for-12 from the free-throw line.
Brandon Serrano (Hempstead, N.Y.) would convert at layup early in the second half to get the Mount to within 50-46 and a jumper at the 14:10 mark to being the Dolphins to within 59-57, but that would be as close as the team would get the rest of the night. Sage pushed its lead to double-figures on a pair of Stopera free-throws with 10:20 left in the game and would not let the Mount closer than seven points the rest of the way.
After Woods brought the Dolphins to a 73-66 deficit on a three-pointer with 8:35 left to play, the Gators held the Dolphins to just three field goals the rest of the game.
Sage rounded out the night with five players in double-figures, led by a game-high 27 from Stopera. He finished the night 5-for-8 from the floor and 15-for-20 from the free-throw line to go along with three rebounds and five assists. Melvin Ford closed out a double-double with 17 points and 10 rebounds, while Jacob Sopchak scored 19 points off the bench.
Serrano paced the Dolphins with a team-high 26 points to go along with 10 rebounds, a pair of blocks and two steals. Johnson netted 17 points for the Mount and secured five rebounds, while Christian Giles (East Elmhurst, N.Y.) scored nine points and handed out a team-high four assists.
Woods scored in double-figures for the second time this season, both against Sage, after going 7-for-12 from the floor overall and hitting three triples. He posted his first career double-double after securing a game-high 12 rebounds and also swiped a pair of steals. In the two games against Sage this season, Woods averaged 16.5 points.
Sage shot 46.3-percent for the game and outrebounded Mount Saint Vincent 53-43 overall and 20-15 on the offensive glass. The Gators held a convincing 27-10 edge in second chance points and a 48-40 advantage in paint points. Overall on the night, the Gators outscored Mount Saint Vincent 31-16 from the free-throw line.
Monday's loss drops Mount Saint Vincent to 1-10 overall on the season and to 0-5 in Skyline Conference play. The Dolphins will look to get back into the win column on Thursday when they travel to Farmingdale State. Tip-off with the Rams is set for 7:00 p.m.
Game Note: The current 10 game losing streak is the first double-digit skid for Mount Saint Vincent since a 16 game slide during the 2006-07 season.