Five Score in Double Figures as Men's Basketball Opens Season With 85-80 Triumph Over Berkeley
Box Score DOBBS FERRY, N.Y. (Nov. 13, 2015) – Powered by five Mavericks scoring in double figures, the Mercy College men's basketball team withstood a late rally by Berkeley College to earn an 85-80 victory over the Knights in their 2015-16 season opener on Friday night at Mercy Gymnasium.
The Mavericks (1-0) win their season opener for the second straight year, while the Knights (0-1) begin their USCAA Division II National Title defense with a loss.
Senior Shaquille Stokes (Harlem, N.Y./University of Hawaii) led the way for Mercy with a team-high 16 points on 5-of-8 shooting in his Mavericks debut, while junior William Robinson (Mount Vernon, N.Y./Nyack College) secured a double-double with 10 points and 10 rebounds in his debut. Senior Tyseem Lyles (Brooklyn, N.Y./Tompkins Cortland CC) poured in 14 points and had seven rebounds, while juniors K.J. Rose (Binghamton, N.Y./Fairfield University) and Isaiah Cosbert (Queens, N.Y./Sullivan CC) put up 11 points in their first game as Mavericks.
Berkeley was led by Massiah Merritt who had a game-high 27 points, while Keenan Langston and Malik Brown chipped in 16 points apiece.
In their first game of the season in front of the home crowd, Mercy jumped out to an early 10-8 lead with Rose supplying six of the points. The Mavericks ensued with a 13-0 run capped off by a Lyles layup to take a 23-8 lead and looked to be running away with the contest.
Mercy increased the lead to as many as 23 on multiple occasions before a Jeremiah Brown free throw gave the Mavericks a 41-17 lead with 5:33 left in the half.
A Stokes jumper with six seconds left in the half gave Mercy their biggest lead of the half, 54-29, heading into intermission and looked to have the game well in hand.
The Mavericks opened up shooting a blistering 56.8 percent from the field in the opening half and held Berkeley to just 27.3 percent shooting. Mercy also held a 28-18 edge on the glass and were paced by 12 and 11 points from Stokes and Lyles, respectively.
A Gerald McClease (New Haven, Conn./Sullivan CC) layup at the 19:26 mark of the second half gave the Mavericks their biggest lead of the game at 27, 56-29, and looked to be well on their way to a season-opening win. However, the Knights would not go down quietly as they slowly crept back into the game, going on a 28-9 run over the course of the following nine minutes to cut the deficit to single-digits since early in the first half at 65-57 with 10:38 left to play.
A layup by Langston cut the Mercy lead to just six, 65-59, with 9:32 remaining, but McClease ensued with four straight free throws to up the lead back up to ten, 69-59, with 6:50 left.
The Mavericks continued to keep their distance from the visitors, but a three-pointer from Merritt with 52 seconds remaining got the Knights within four, 81-77. Mercy responded by going 4-of-6 at the charity stripe to seal the win and escape with the win.
After shooting a high percentage in the first half, the Mavericks cooled off and shot 30.8 percent in the second half and helped the Knights get back in the game with 14 turnovers in the second half.
Mercy concluded the evening shooting 46.0 percent from the field and held a 55-43 edge on the glass, while Berkeley shot 35.5 percent from the field. In a contest that featured 58 fouls, the Mavericks shot 62.2 percent (23-37) from the foul line and the Knights hit only 54.5 percent (18-33) of their attempts.
Head Coach Dr. Jody King and the Mavericks resume play on Wednesday, November 18th when they host Nyack College at 7 p.m.
