Mercy Men's Basketball Wins on Breast Cancer Awareness Day
The Mercy College men's basketball team won its second
game of the season, upending Molloy College 82-76 in a hard-fought
East Coast Conference match. The game was a tale of two halves,
with the home Mavericks claiming the win. In the first half, Molloy
(8-16; 8-11 ECC) out-scored Mercy 40-33, while, in the second half,
the Mavericks (2-22; 2-17 ECC) connected on two-thirds of their
shots, out-scoring Molloy 49-36.
In the first half, Mercy jumped out to an early 7-2 lead,
as senior Ed Wilson (Bronx, N.Y./Msgr. Scanlan)
hit a pair of layups and classmate Manny
Garcia (Bronx, N.Y./Cardinal Spellman) hit a
three-pointer. A 12-0 run then gave Molloy a seven point lead at
14-7, with 13:44 to go. Tolulade Jegede and Jimmy Nolan were key
for the Lions in that run.
Mercy fought back, and had the lead down to five points on a
freshman Kirk Bailey (Freeport, N.Y./St. Mary's)
layup with 10:22 to go. Wilson would make a steal in the waning
seconds of the half, converting the layup, and the Mavericks were
down 40-33 after 20 minutes of play. Molloy shot 38 percent for the
half, with Mercy shooting 45%.
In the second half, Mercy came out shooting the lights out. Each
team scored early, before an 8-0 run for the hosts cut the deficit
to the slimmest of all margins, one point, at 46-45 with 14:59 to
play. Molloy fought back the charge, and quickly improved the lead
to six points, at 56-50, with 11:27 to play.
Mercy's Bailey then grabbed a rebound and made the put
back. Freshman Chaz
Morrish (Douglaston, N.Y./St. Mary's) made a
three-pointer, and the lead was at one point again. After a Molloy
free throw, a Bailey dunk threw the crowd into a frenzy as the
score was tied for the third time in the game. Seconds later,
Morrish hit a triple from the corner, and the Mavericks were up by
three, at 60-57, with 8:36 to play.
After a three-pointer from Molloy's Kevin Walsh, sophomore
Colin Senior (Hackensack, N.J./Hackensack) and
Morrish hit back-to-back baskets from downtown, and Mercy was up
six. Bailey's layup put Mercy up eight. After a Molloy
timeout and another Lions miss, Bailey made another layup, and the
Mavericks were up 10.
In the three minute span, Mercy ran off ten consecutive points,
and forced Molloy to miss all three of their shots. “Ed
Wilson came out of the game, just days after scoring his
1000th point,” remarked head coach Adam
Parmenter. “He did nothing but pull for his
teammates. That is what our program is about. That is why this win
is so important for us.”
At the 3:40 mark, Mercy led by 11, their largest lead of the
game, when Senior made a layup. Hasan
Powell (Bridgeport, Conn./Central) had the steal that
led to the easy basket.
Molloy would cut the lead to six points with 1:25 to go on a
pair of John Petrucelli free throws. After Morrish made another
three for Mercy, Molloy's Nolan drilled his own three-pointer
and the lead was just six with 50 seconds to play. Play continued,
and Molloy was forced to foul.
Wilson made a pair of free throws, and Mercy led by eight with
13 seconds left. Sean Hehir of Molloy hit a three with eight ticks
left to make it more interesting, but Wilson's free throw
with three seconds left gave the final score of 82-76.
For the game, Mercy shot better than 55% from the floor, with 25
assists on 34 makes. Powell was very unselfish for a senior, taking
only three shots, but dishing 13 assists. Senior leadership was
more evident, as Wilson had 20 points and seven rebounds, and
Garcia had 16 points. Bailey had 16 points and nine boards, while
Morrish had 12.
Mercy enters the final week of the season with a road game on
Wednesday, February 23, at NYIT, before hosting Dowling College on
Saturday, February 26, at 2:00 p.m.
