McClease Pours in 16 as Men's Basketball Faces STAC
Box Score SPARKILL, N.Y. (Jan. 20, 2015)- Junior Gerald McClease (New Haven, Conn. / Sullivan CC) finished with 16 points and eight rebounds as the Mercy College men's basketball team fell to the Spartans of St. Thomas Aquinas College, 65-55, on Tuesday evening.
The Spartans improve to 10-8 overall and 7-2 in the East Coast Conference, while the Mavericks fall to 6-9, and 1-8 in the ECC.
McClease and fellow classmate Lazaro Martinez (Harlem, N.Y. /Mohawk Valley CC) scored the first ten Mavericks points to stay within single digits at 13-10, with 11:50 to play. Justin Reyes had the hot hand for the Spartans in the first half, as he led all scorer with eight.
Reyes connected a jumper at the 4:39 mark that sparked an 8-3 run to close out the half. Sophomore Najee Senior (Bronx, N.Y. / Western Okla. State College) nailed a jumper as the horn sounded and the Spartans held a 32-21 lead at halftime.
In the second half, Mercy caused two turnovers that led to easy buckets and forced STAC to take an early timeout. The Spartans regrouped and put together a 16-4 run that was capped off by back-to-back three's for James Mitchell. STAC held a 48-31 lead with 11:23 remaining.
STAC looked like they were cruising to a blowout victory, before the Mavericks answered with a 18-2 run that was capped off a by junior Jason Quijada (Monsey, N.Y. /Rockland CC) knocking down three free-throws to pull the Mavericks to within three at 56-53 with just under two minutes to play.
This would be the closest that Mercy would get in the game as Marcus Henderson scored five points in a row to close out the game on a 9-2 run.
Senior and junior Joshua Thompson (Chester, Pa. /Globe Institute) combined for 13 second half points, while McClease scored nine in the second stanza. Despite the loss, the Mavericks outscored the Spartans 34-33 in the latter 45 and shot 50.0% from the field.
Mercy held the Spartans starters to just 27 points, but the bench combined for 38 points, including having three players score in double-figures.
Dr. Jody King and the Mavericks return to action on Sat. Jan 24th, as they host the Firebirds of the University of the District of Columbia at 2:30 p.m.
