Riverdale, N.Y. – The College of Mount Saint Vincent Men's Basketball team was handed a hard fought 83-72 loss by visiting Mount Saint Mary on Thursday night at the Peter Jay Sharp Center. Three Dolphins scored in double-figures on the night, led by a team-high 17 points from junior Sean Caputo (Staten Island, N.Y.).

After trading buckets in the early going on Thursday, the Knights would gain some breathing room after an 11-2 run capped by a Carlos Valdez layup pushed them in front 15-7 with 13:33 left in the opening frame.

The Dolphins would come back to get the deficit to within two twice, once after a Stephen Oliver (Brooklyn, N.Y.) three-pointer and then again after a Cody Gauvard (Rockaway, N.Y.) basket with 10:02 to play in the half.

After the Gauvard conversion, the Knights would quickly spread their lead back out to nine points after two buckets from Kevin Milella and a jumper from Chris Pisciotta with 6:47 on the clock.

The Dolphins would again battle back to get the Mount Saint Mary advantage to just three points after two Shaquille Cunningham (Brooklyn, N.Y.) free-throws, before ultimately heading to the locker room down by five points after 20 minutes.

Mount Saint Vincent was held to just 29.4-percent shooting in the first half, but stayed close by making four three-pointers. Oliver knocked down a pair of triples in the half, while Cunningham led the group with nine points.

Mount Saint Vincent came out of halftime and pulled in front 37-35 after Cunningham converted a fast break bucket to cap off a 9-2 run to open the second stanza. After the two teams traded buckets to tie the score again at 39-39, the Knights ripped off a 7-0 run to break open a 46-39 lead with 13:43 remaining in the contest.

The Dolphins would not allow the Knights to pull away any further and used an 11-0 run keyed by five points from Caputo to open their largest lead of the game at 50-46 at the 12:26 mark of the half.

The Knights again quickly erased the lad after a Milella conversion and a Joe Stabach triple that pushed the visitors back in front for good on the night with 10:36 on the clock. The Dolphins would battle back to tie the score just one more time on the night and watched Mount Saint Mary convert 11 free-throws down the stretch to secure the victory.

Milella proved to be too much against the Mount after he finished the night with a game-high 23 points on 9-for-15 shooting. He also grabbed 10 rebounds and handed out two assists. Valdez also had a big night with 17 points and a game-high 13 rebounds to go along with a game-high five steals.

Stabach also came on in the second half for the Knights and scored 15 of his 17 points after the break. Dylan McCann led the team with six assists and Joe Henain chipped in 10 points for the Knights would shot 44.6-percent from the floor overall.

Caputo finished the night with a season-high 17 points after he went 5-for-9 from the floor and 5-for-8 from three-point range. He also tied for the team lead with four assists on the night. Cunningham finished up with 13 points and four assists, while Mark Waite (Chicago, Ill.) netted 12 points and grabbed seven rebounds.

Mount Saint Mary dominated on the glass as a team on Thursday and outrebounded the Dolphins 55-32 overall, including 22-11 on the offensive glass. The Knights scored 46 points in the paint and converted 27 second chance points to just seven for the Mount.

The loss sees Mount Saint Vincent drops to 3-10 overall on the season and to 1-5 in league play. The Dolphins will continue the search for their first home win of the season on Saturday when they play host to Purchase. Tip-off is scheduled for 3:00 p.m.