Men's Basketball Drops Heartbreaker to ECC-Foe Molloy, 62-59
ROCKVILLE CENTRE, N.Y. (Dec. 7, 2011) – Coming off a dominating 84-67 victory against Nyack College on Saturday, the Mercy College men's basketball team tried to make it a two-game winning streak as it opened up East Coast Conference action against Molloy College in the Quealy Gymnasium in Rockville Centre, N.Y. on Wednesday evening. Despite the Mavericks outscoring the Lions in the second half, Molloy was able to hold off Mercy and lock up a 62-59 win.
Molloy (3-5, 1-1 ECC) went up by as many as 14 points in the opening half. A three-ball by junior guard
Colin Senior (Hackensack, N.J.) with nine seconds left got the Mavericks (1-6, 0-1 ECC) to within eight as halftime approached. The Lions led 31-23 at the intermission.
Whatever Mercy Head Coach Adam Parmenter said in the locker room during halftime worked because the Mavericks came out scorching. Mercy put in seven unanswered points as Senior scored four and sophomore guard Chaz Morrish (Douglaston, N.Y.) nailed a three-pointer. With 17:25 left, the Mavericks cut their deficit to 31-30.
The Lions would retain that lead for the next five minutes. With 12:15 remaining in the second stanza, sophomore guard Romaine Wall (Hackensack, N.J.) drove in a lay-up to give Mercy its first lead of the contest at 39-38.
Over the span of the subsequent four minutes, the ballgame saw three instances where the score was tied and when it was not, the respective team led by two at the most. With 6:38 remaining, Molloy junior guard Chris Lyons (Long Beach, N.Y.) drained a three-pointer to put the Lions ahead, 55-49.
Mercy junior forward LeBrandon Smith (Jamaica, N.Y.) and Senior popped in back-to-back jumpers to cut Molloy's advantage to two (55-53). A few free throws and lay-ups for Molloy gave the Lions a little more breathing room. Down 60-57 with 1:01 left, junior forward Joseph Pope (Akron, Ohio) netted a lay-up to trim Molloy's lead to one point.
The Mavericks tried valiantly, but a last-second shot didn't fall in and the Lions went on to win, 62-59. However, Mercy never quit and never showed defeat. Even with 16 seconds remaining and the score 62-59, Coach Parmenter's troops did everything they could to find a way to win.
For Mercy, Morrish led the team with 13 points as he went 3-for-6 from behind the arc. Senior finished with 12 points and sophomore forward/center Jordan Lee (Englewood, N.J.) grabbed a game-high 10 rebounds. Lee also added six points.
For Molloy, sophomore guard John Petrucelli (Hicksville, N.Y.) poured in a contest-best 19 points, while junior guard Jimmy Nolan (Plantation, Fla.) had 17. Sophomore center Tyler Hammett (Clifton Park, N.Y.) contributed 11. Freshman guard Matt McLeod (Greenlawn, N.Y.) stole the ball away seven times, which was a game-high.
Head Coach Adam Parmenter and his club return to action tomorrow when they travel to New Haven, Conn. to battle the University of New Haven. The opening tipoff is set for 7:30 p.m. If you can't make it to the game, these three links will have you set with all the play-by-play action:
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