Four Reach Double Figures as Men's Basketball Faces Molloy in ECC Opener
Box Score ROCKVILLE CENTRE, N.Y. (Dec. 4, 2014) – Despite four Mavericks scoring in double figures, the Mercy College men's basketball team dropped a 78-65 decision to Molloy College in their East Coast Conference (ECC) opener on Thursday night at Quealy Gym.
The Mavericks (3-1, 0-1 ECC) drop their first game of the season and the first under Head Coach Dr. Jody King, while the Lions (6-1, 1-0 ECC) have now won four in a row.
Mercy came into the game with most of its players experiencing an ECC road game for the first time and the Mavericks would get off to a slow start as the hosts jumped out to a quick 10-3 lead. However, Mercy would settle in and knot the score up at 14-14 on a junior Tyseem Lyles (Brooklyn, N.Y./Tompkins Cortland CC) trifecta at the 12:02 mark of the opening half.
Molloy would get the lead up to eight, 26-18, with 6:10 left in the half before back-to-back baskets from junior Joshua Thompson (Chester, Pa./Globe Institute) and sophomore Tyshon Carter (Mount Vernon, N.Y./Monroe College) got the Mavericks to within four, 26-22, at the 3:37 mark.
The Lions however would close the half on a 7-0 run to take their first double-digit lead of the game at 33-22 heading into halftime.
Mercy entered the contest averaging 83.0 points per game on 53.5 percent shooting from the floor, but the Mavericks would have their first cold-shooting night of the year as they shot only 33.3 percent in the opening half compared to 43.3 percent for the home team.
The second half saw Mercy find its stroke, connecting on 50 percent of their attempts in the period but Molloy would shoot 52.4 percent from the field and go 21-of-22 from the charity stripe to keep the lead.
The Lions built their lead to 21, 50-29, with 13:34 remaining but the Mavericks would not go away as they used a 24-10 run over the next eight minutes to get within seven, 60-53, following a layup by sophomore Najee Senior (Bronx, N.Y./Western Okla. State College).
However, that would be the closest Mercy would get as Molloy went 14-of-14 from the line over the last six minutes to seal the win.
The Mavericks ended the night shooting at a 41.5 percent clip and outrebounded the Lions 36-32.
Leading Mercy was junior Jeremiah Brown (Queens Bridge, N.Y./Hostos CC) who scored 16 points on 4-of-8 shooting from the field and added seven rebounds. Junior Lazaro Martinez (Harlem, N.Y./Mohawk Valley CC) had his best outing as a Maverick, finishing with 15 points and six rebounds on 7-of-11 shooting. Lyles ended the night with 12 points and this week's ECC Player of the Week junior Gerald McClease (New Haven, Conn./Sullivan CC) rounded out four Mercy players scoring in double figures with 10 points on the evening to go along with seven rebounds.
Head Coach Dr. Jody King and the Mavericks return home for their ECC home opener against Dowling College on Wednesday, December 10th at 7:30 p.m.
