Men's Basketball Concludes Season with Tight Loss to St. Thomas Aquinas, 67-64
Box Score SPARKILL, N.Y. (Feb. 25, 2012) – On Saturday afternoon, the Mercy College men's basketball squad finished up its 2011-12 campaign with a heartbreaking 67-64 defeat to league-opponent St. Thomas Aquinas College in Sparkill, N.Y. With the win, the Spartans improved to 9-17 overall and 5-11 in the ECC. Following the loss, the Mavericks slipped to 4-22 on the season and 3-13 in conference play.
With 4:29 remaining in the first half, Mercy trailed 29-19. The Mavericks received two back-to-back jumpers from junior forward LeBrandon Smith (Jamaica, N.Y.) and went into halftime down just six points (34-28).
Later on, following a dunk by STAC's Dane Dixon, the Spartans led by 14 points with only 4:50 left in the second stanza. Remarkably clutch, the Mavericks then reeled off 11 straight points to come within three points of the hosts. Mercy junior guard Colin Senior (Hackensack, N.J.) had seven of those 11 points.
STAC converted on a free throw, but then Mercy sophomore forward Kirk Bailey (Freeport, N.Y.) found the back of the lane for a successful lay-up to cut his team's deficit down to the smallest it was since the beginning of the game (65-63). The rest of the contest was dictated by Mercy missing foul shots and St. Thomas Aquinas hitting foul shots. The Spartans won, 67-64.
For Mercy, Senior led the team once again with 19 points, while Smith scored a career-high 17 points off the bench.
This concludes the 2011-12 season for Head Coach Adam Parmenter and the Mavericks. For all postseason awards and offseason news and notes, please stay tuned to www.MercyAthletics.com.
