Brown Drops in Season-High 21 Points as Men's Basketball Takes On NYIT
Box Score OLD WESTBURY, N.Y. (Jan. 10, 2015) – Despite a season-high 21 points from junior Jeremiah Brown (Queens Bridge, N.Y./Hostos CC), the Mercy College men's basketball team could not overcome a 54 percent shooting afternoon by NYIT, falling 85-69 to the Bears on Saturday afternoon at Recreation Hall.
The Mavericks (6-5, 1-4 ECC) have their season-high-tying three-game winning streak snapped, while the Bears (4-9, 1-4 ECC) pick up their first league win and snap a three-game losing streak.
Brown once again had a strong shooting day for Mercy, going 8-for-12 from the field and knocked down three triples. Sophomore Najee Senior (Bronx, N.Y./Western Okla. State College) came off the bench and scored 14 points on 4-of-7 shooting and collected four boards. Rounding out three reaching double figures was graduate student Terrance Murchie (Franklin Square, N.Y./H. Frank Carey) who chipped in 10 points.
The hosts were led by Darian Hooker who put up a game-high 29 points.
The Mavericks came into the game looking to build off their impressive win over LIU Post on Wednesday, but got off to a slow start falling behind 10-4 early. Mercy would come back and make it a two-point game, 10-8, with 15:09 left in the first but NYIT would ensue with an 18-0 run over the next six minutes that gave the Bears a 28-8 lead with 9:51 left before the intermission and they would lead the rest of the way.
NYIT would maintain a double-digit lead for the remainder of the half and headed into the break with a 41-28 lead despite the Mavericks ending the half on a 5-0 run.
The Bears were able to jump out to the lead helped by a strong 60.9 percent shooting percentage compared to just 30.3 percent for Mercy. NYIT also was able to go 6-for-11 from beyond the arc while the Mavericks were only able to capitalize on one out of 11 attempts.
The second half saw the home team maintain a double-digit lead the entire period with Mercy getting as close as 10, 59-49, on a Murchie jumper with 10:30 remaining.
The Mavericks were able to up their shooting percentage to 51.7 percent in the second stanza, but the Bears were not far behind at 48.4 percent. Mercy ended the day at 40.3 percent from the floor, went 8-for-23 from beyond the arc and hit an impressive 11-of-13 from the line. NYIT held a large, 42-22, edge on the glass but was only able to turn that into a 12-5 edge in second chance points. Mercy's bench had another strong performance, outscoring the Bears' bench 31-9.
Head Coach Dr. Jody King and the Mavericks look to return to the win column as they host ECC foe Roberts Wesleyan on Friday, January 16th at 7:30 p.m. Live stats and video will be available at mercyathletics.com.
