Bailey, Keshinro Record Double-Doubles as Men's Basketball Hosts Daemen
Box Score DOBBS FERRY, N.Y. (Jan. 6, 2014) – Seniors Kirk Bailey (Freeport, N.Y. / St. Mary's) and Olajide Keshinro (Brooklyn, N.Y. / SUNY Cobleskill) recorded career-high double-doubles as the Mercy College men's basketball team hosted Daemen College for the first-ever matchup between the new East Coast Conference foes on Monday night.
Daemen came away with the 99-92 victory to improve to 7-5 overall and 4-3 in the ECC, while Mercy drops to 1-10 (1-4).
The Wildcats jumped out to a 5-0 lead in the first minute but the Mavericks did not take long to even things up, rattling off a 9-2 run following a seven-point deficit to tie things up at 11-11 with 15:10 on the clock.
Keshinro would hit four straight baskets to give Mercy the 17-14 lead with 10:36 to play in the first half. Senior Chaz Morrish (Douglaston, N.Y. / St. Mary's) evened things back up at 21-21 after a brief Daemen lead and sophomore Daniel Pierrot (New York, N.Y. / Adelphi Univ.) drained a three-pointer to regain the three-point edge at 24-21 with 8:06 remaining.
The Wildcats regained the lead at 26-24, but Keshinro came up big again with an offensive rebound and the putback dunk to level the score at 26-26 with 6:34 left in the half.
Daemen took control from there, however, as the Wildcats outscored the Mavericks 2p-8 over the rest of the half to take a 50-34 lead into the break.
The Mavericks quickly pulled back into the game as the second half got underway, scoring nine of the first 10 points while holding Daemen without a basket over the first five minutes to cut the deficit to eight at 51-43 with 16:58 on the clock.
Mercy kept the margin within 10 points over the next five minutes and after falling back by a 
game-high 19 at 78-59 with 8:24 to play, rallied behind a 33-19 run to trim the margin to five at 97-92 on a Morrish trey with 22 seconds remaining. The Mavericks would finish with a 45-37 edge in rebounding, including a whopping 23 offensive boards to Daemen's 11, but could not overcome the Wildcats' sharp shooting (53 percent from the floor, 41 percent beyond the arc).
Bailey raised his career high in scoring with a game-high 25 points and added 10 rebounds for his fourth double-double of the season, while Keshinro recorded a career-high 24 points and 14 rebounds for his third double-double. Bailey hit a career-best 11-of-13 free throws and Keshinro shot a remarkable 10-of-13 from the floor while adding six blocks as the Mavericks big men went toe-to-toe with the ECC blocks leader and defending Player of the Week, junior Gerald Beverly (18 points, seven rebounds, 11 blocks). Morrish, Pierrot and senior P.J. Walters (Hempstead, N.Y. / Wheaton College) all scored in double figures as well with 18, 10 and 11 points, respectively.
Head Coach Adam Parmenter and the Mavericks will continue their 2014-opening home stand on Wednesday, Jan. 8 as they host ECC rival Molloy College (5-7, 3-2) at 7:30 p.m.
