Men's Basketball Upends ECC Foe Queens College, 60-54
QUEENS, N.Y. (Feb. 18, 2012) – Junior forward Joseph Pope (Akron, Ohio) poured in 17 points, hitting eight of his nine shots, as the Mercy College men's basketball team avenged an earlier loss to East Coast Conference opponent Queens College in the conference Doubleheader of the Week, defeating the Knights 60-54 in Fitzgerald Gymnasium on Saturday afternoon.
Mercy improves to 3-20 overall and 2-11 in the ECC, while Queens drops to 4-19 (3-10). Queens had not won another contest since Dec. 7, and this loss extends the Knights' current losing streak to nine games.
The Mavericks were nearly undone by some impressive free throw shooting by the Knights, who hit 18 of 19 from the line, but Mercy's incredible 56 percent shooting from the field was enough to make the difference as they limited the Knights' leading scorer, senior forward Khalil McDonald (Queens Village, N.Y.) to just seven points.
The Mavericks got into trouble early as they were called for five fouls in the opening three minutes, including two on Pope, who was promptly pulled from the game, and sophomore forward Kirk Bailey (Freeport, N.Y.) picked up his third foul soon after and was also pulled. Mercy fought hard to keep things close and led as late as nine minutes into the half until the Knights scored 11 unanswered points to take a seven-point lead with 8:10 remaining. Pope returned at that point, however, and Mercy scored the final seven points of the half to cut the deficit to just four heading into the break.
Pope quickly tied things up at 31-31 less than three minutes into the second half and shortly after junior forward LeBrandon Smith (Jamaica, N.Y.) stole the ball and slammed a dunk down on the fast break to take a 37-35 lead. The Knights' senior guard Nana Boateng (Brooklyn, N.Y.) hit a pair of free throws and a trey over the next minute to regain the lead for Queens, but Mercy was back on top, 43-40, with 9:08 left on the clock after a three-minute scoreless stretch for both teams.
Queens reclaimed the lead on the next possession, but Mercy caught a break when starting sophomore center Pat Piasecki (Coram, N.Y.), who had led the game with 13 points in the first half, picked up a bloody nose and was sent to the bench, where he would remain through the end of the game. Mercy capitalized on his absence, taking back the lead for good on a fall-away floater from junior guard Colin Senior (Hackensack, N.J.) that was followed immediately by a monster jam from Pope with 5:42 to push the lead to four.
The Mavericks would extend the margin to as many as six, which ended up being the final margin as Senior went 5-6 from the charity stripe to close things out, 60-54.
Pope's 17 points were the game high, while Senior added 14 with a team-high six rebounds and sophomore point guard Chaz Morrish (Douglaston, N.Y.) dished out a career-high six assists.
Piasecki ended his night with 15 points to lead the Knights, with sophomore guard Jeremiah Mordi (Valley Stream, N.Y.) putting up 13 with four assists. Junior forward Daniel Watson (Mt. Vernon, N.Y.) led the game with seven rebounds and Boateng managed seven steals.
Head Coach Adam Parmenter and the Mavericks will host Dowling College (10-13, 6-7) on Wednesday, Feb. 22 in their final home matchup of the season. It will also be Senior Night and a Pink Zone Breast Cancer Awareness game, with tipoff set for 7:30 p.m. following the women's game.
