Fort Lauderdale, Fla. – The College of Mount Saint Vincent Men's Basketball team fell for the seventh straight time on Wednesday night with an 82-59 loss to Lawrence University to open the 2013 Cruzin Classic. Brendan Serrano (Hempstead, N.Y.) led two players in double-figures with 17 points for the Dolphins.
The Dolphins opened the tilt with a 6-0 run over the first 2:23 of the game to build their largest lead of the game. All three conversions in the run came inside for the Dolphins, with two of the three coming off of turnovers.
Mount Saint Vincent would hold on to the advantage until the 10:12 mark of the first half when Max Burgess converted a lay-in to move the Vikings in front 11-10. The bucket was part of a 28-4 run for Lawrence over a 7:50 stretch that saw it push in front 32-14.
The Dolphins went 4:39 without scoring in the middle stages of the first half and scored just eight points over the final 12 minutes of the opening period. The Mount found itself down 42-18 at the break after going 8-for-29 from the floor overall in the half and 0-for-9 from three-point range. Lawrence shot just shy of 54-percent in the opening 20 minutes and was led by 11 points from Ryan DePouw.
After falling behind by a game-high 27 points twice in the first two minutes of the second half, the Dolphins would climb back to within 16 points after back-to-back three-point field goals from Gerard Fraser (Staten Island, N.Y.) and Taj Lake (Fruitland Park, Fla.). The triples we part of a 14-3 spurt for the Mount.
The Vikings quickly spread the lead back out to 20 points after four straight tallies from DePouw and would not allow Mount Saint Vincent closer than 18 points the remainder of the contest.
The Dolphins finished the game shooting 39.3-percent from the floor and 2-for-17 from three-point range. Wednesday's game was the fifth straight outing in which the Mount has failed to shoot 40-percent from the floor.
Serrano scored in double figures for the eighth straight game after going 6-for-16 from the floor. He added nine rebounds and a blocked shot. Kevin Henry (Yonkers, N.Y.) netted 10 points and reached double-figures for the second straight game to go along with four rebounds.
Freshman Christian Giles (East Elmhurst, N.Y.) led the Mount with four assists and added two steals, while classmate Jesse Regina (Staten Island, N.Y.) added a team-high three thefts. Gerard Fraser (Staten Island, N.Y.) chipped in with nine points and six boards.
Lawrence shot an even 50-percent for the game and knocked down nine three-point field goals. Tyler Mazur matched the game-high with 17 points off the bench, with DePouw adding 15 points and three assists. Jamie Nikita led the team with eight rebounds and added 13 points.
Wednesday's loss drops Mount Saint Vincent to 1-7 overall on the season. The Dolphins will look to end their slide on Thursday night when they take on Wartburg. Tip-off from Fort Lauderdale is scheduled for 8:00 p.m.