Fort Lauderdale, Fla. – Junior guard Shaquille Cunningham (Brooklyn, N.Y.) hit a jumper with one second remaining in regulation and was one of four Dolphins in double-figures in a thrilling 83-81 win over Methodist in their opening game of the Cruzin' Classic on Saturday evening.

Mount Saint Vincent never trailed in the game on Saturday and held a lead as large as 16 on three occasions in the first half on Saturday. After 20 minutes of play, Mount Saint Vincent went to the locker room up 44-32 after shooting nearly 53-percent from the field.

Mark Waite (Chicago, Ill.) led all scorers at the break with 15 tallies after going 6-for-9 from the field. Overall the Dolphins were 18-for-34 from the floor and knocked down seven of their nine free-throw chances.

The Dolphins would come out of halftime and quickly match their game-high lead of 16 points after a Yeuri Santos (New York, N.Y.) bucket with 19:10 to play in the contest. Mount Saint Vincent would keep the advantage between six and the game-high 16 points until the final minutes.

Trailing 79-66 with 2:43 to play in the contest, the Monarchs ran off a 15-2 run to knot the score at 81-81 with 26 ticks left in regulation time. Mark Jernigan caught fire for the Monarchs over that stretch, scoring seven points including a pair of three-pointers.

After giving up the lead in the final three minutes of play, Cunningham played the role of hero coming out a time out. With one second left he hit a jump shot that pushed the Dolphins in front by the final two point advantage.

Cunningham finished the game with 10 points and led the team in assists with four. He struggled from the field overall on the day, going just 3-for-11, but converted four of six from the free-throw line and also secured four rebounds.

Waite and senior Cody Gauvard (Rockaway Park, N.Y.) led the Dolphins in the scoring column with 19 points apiece. Waite finished the day 8-for-12 from the floor to go along with six rebounds, three assists and three steals. Gauvard finished 8-for-13 and led the team with eight boards.

Also having a strong day for the Mount was sophomore Chris Bonaventura (Staten Island, N.Y.) who finished with a season-high 16 points on 5-for-11 shooting overall and a 5-for-8 effort from the charity stripe. He also handed out a pair of helpers and secured a career-high five steals.

For the game, Mount Saint Vincent finished shooting just under 52-percent overall and went 3-for-9 from three-point range. The Dolphins also forced 26 turnovers on the day and translated those into 30 points to go along with 44 points in the paint. Both the field goal percentage and the point total are season-highs for the Dolphins.

Methodist was paced by a game-high 21 points from Jernigan who went 6-for-10 from the field and 6-for-8 from the free-throw line. James Whitehead added 18 points and six rebounds, while Bryan Hockaday netted 13 points for the Monarchs.

The win pushes Mount Saint Vincent to 3-6 overall on the season heading into its last contest before the holidays. The Dolphins will look to make it two straight on Sunday afternoon when they take on Keene State (N.H.) in Fort Lauderdale. Tip-off with the Owls is scheduled for 4:00 p.m.