New York, N.Y. – The College of Mount Saint Vincent Men's Basketball team suffered its second straight loss on Monday night following a 91-76 road defeat at the City College of New York. Senior James Zuccaro (Gilbert, Ariz.) led the offensive attack with a team-high 22 points.
A tightly contested first half saw the two teams head to the intermission tied at 35-35. The Dolphins took their largest lead of the game inside the tilt's first five minutes when a lay-in from Zuccaro gave the Mount a 12-4 advantage at the 15:14 mark of the opening period.
The Dolphins would maintain the lead until CCNY knotted the score at 19-19 on an Anthony Lewis bucket in the middle stages of the half. The Beavers would jump out to a six point lead three times in the final six minutes of the first half, with a Khalil Hamer bucket pushing CCNY in front 30-24 with 3:09 left before halftime.
Mount Saint Vincent would close the half with 11 of the final 16 points, with Zuccaro knotting the score at 35-35 with a lay-up with seven ticks left before the intermission. The bucket gave him 16 first half points to go along with nine rebounds.
The Dolphins finished the first period shooting 41.2-percent and held a 16-10 edge in paint points. Each team knocked down five three-point field goals before the half with CCNY outscoring Mount Saint Vincent 6-2 at the free-throw line.
Mount Saint Vincent would quickly gain a 38-35 lead coming out of halftime on an Ammad Alkhulaidi (Brooklyn, N.Y.) three point play 1:06 into the frame, but saw CCNY take the lead for good in the game on a Lewis lay-in at the 16:21 mark of the half that pushed the Beavers in front 46-45.
CCNY extended its lead to eight points on a David Solano three-pointer with just under eight minutes left in regulation and took a 71-61 lead on a pair of Lewis free-throws with just over six minutes remaining in the game.
Over the final 3:45, CCNY converted on 12 free-throws, including six from Lewis, to take the final 15 point advantage, the team's largest led of the game, with 21 seconds left.
The Beavers converted on 20 free-throws after halftime, outscoring the Mount 20-5 from the line in the final 20 minutes. CCNY also shot 54.6-percent from three-point range after halftime and was led by 27 second half points from Lewis.
For the game, CCNY went 26-for-34 from the free-throw line, while the Mount converted on seven of its eight attempts. The Beavers knocked down 11 three-pointers in the tilt, shooting 454.8-percent from behind the arc.
Zuccaro scored at least 20 points in a game for the sixth time this season after going 10-for-19 from the floor, adding nine boards and two blocked shots. Senior Antonio Johnson (Fort Johnson, N.Y.) joined Zuccaro in double-figures with 13 points to go along with three assists and a team-high three steals.
Alkhulaidi matched the game-high with 11 rebounds for the Dolphins and handed out three assists, while scoring six points. Freshman Jamir Ferebee (Staten Island, N.Y.) scored nine of the team's 30 bench points in the game and classmate Madison Martinez (Atlanta, Ga.) equaled the team-high with three assists.
CCNY got a game-high 34 points and 11 rebounds from Lewis who finished 9-for-16 from the floor and 16-for-20 from the free-throw line. Hamer added 20 points and Solano chipped in with 18 points. Manfred Cadet led all players with 10 assists, adding seven points and five rebounds.
Monday's loss drops Mount Saint Vincent to 8-4 overall on the season. The Dolphins will return to league play on Thursday when they play host to St. Joseph's-L.I. Tip-off is scheduled for 8:00 p.m.