Riverdale, N.Y. – College of Mount Saint Vincent freshman Khalil Shorter (Staten Island, N.Y.) scored a career-high 13 points and was one of 12 players to find the scoring column on Saturday as the Dolphins cruised to their fourth straight win with a 76-59 Skyline Conference victory over NYU-POLY.
Mount Saint Vincent went a total of 3:12 in the opening moments on Saturday without the lead. A Gerard Fraser (Staten Island, N.Y.) lay-in at the 16:28 mark moved the Mount in front 4-2 and gave the home standing Dolphins the lead for good on the day.
Fraser's basket was part of an 8-0 run for the Dolphins that pushed them in front 8-2 on a Jesse Regina (Staten Island, N.Y.) conversions with 14:41 left in the first half.
The Jays would get their deficit back down to two points twice after the Dolphins gained the advantage, but an 11-3 run for Mount Saint Vincent over 7:36 stretched the Mount Saint Vincent lead to 22-12 with 5:22 left in the first half. The Dolphins held NYU-POLY to 1-for-7 shooting over the run and had five different players score.
Mount Saint Vincent would allow the visitors to creep back to within eight points late in the opening stanza, but closed the frame on a 13-5 spurt over the final 3:35 of the half to take a 35-19 advantage into halftime. The Mount went a perfect 5-for-5 from the floor over the run and got five points from Shorter over that span.
Mount Saint Vincent shot 44.1-percent from the floor in the first half and converted five three-point field goals. Shorter led all players in the game at the break with 10 points on 4-for-7 shooting and also handed out five assists.
The Dolphins did not see their lead after halftime fall below 13 points and opened a lead as large as 29 points on a D'Andre McPhatter (Bronx, N.Y.) jumper with 7:46 to play in the contest. NYU-POLY put together a 9-0 spurt late in the tilt to bring its deficit down to 16 points, at 67-51, but a pair of layups from Anthony Woods (West Palm Beach, Fla.) and a triple from Shorter sealed the win for the Dolphins in the final 1:52.
Mount Saint Vincent finished the game shooting 42.6-percent overall and knocked down nine three-point field goals. Shorter closed the day as the lone Mount Saint Vincent player in double-figures with 13 points on 5-for-10 shooting and a 3-for-5 effort from long distance. He bested his previous career-high assist total by four with six helpers on the day and also collected three rebounds.
Fraser scored nine points for the Dolphins in the game and secured four rebounds and Woods totaled nine points off the bench to go along with two assists and a steal. Regina was the second Dolphin to hand out a career mark in assists as he matched Shorter's six in the contest while adding eight points. Kevin Henry (Yonkers, N.Y.) had a steady game off the bench with eight points, five rebounds and two steals for the Mount.
NYU-POLY got a game-high 16 points from Ed Klementowicz and Brendan Gallgher finished with 14 points and a game-high 13 rebounds. Issac Neaves added 14 points in the loss for the Jays.
Saturday's win improves Mount Saint Vincent's overall record to 5-12 and its league mark to 3-7. The Dolphins will look for their fifth straight win on Wednesday night when they travel to #14 Purchase. Tip-off with the Panthers is set for 7:00 p.m.