Martinez Nearly Records Double-Double as Men's Basketball Battles Wilmington
Box Score DOBBS FERRY, N.Y. (Nov. 21, 2015) – Despite a near double-double from senior Lazaro Martinez (Harlem, N.Y./Mohawk Valley CC), the Mercy College men's basketball team dropped a hard fought, 85-79, decision to Wilmington University on Saturday afternoon at Mercy Gymnasium.
The Mavericks (1-2) drop their second straight, while the Wildcats (3-1) have won three in a row.
Martinez led the way for Mercy with a team-high 17 points and nine rebounds, shooting 7-of-15 from the field. Senior Tyseem Lyles (Brooklyn, N.Y./Tompkins Cortland CC) added 13 points, six rebounds and four assists, while junior William Robinson (Mount Vernon, N.Y./Nyack College) netted 12 points and five rebounds. Senior Jason Quijada (Monsey, N.Y./Rockland CC) and junior K.J. Rose (Binghamton, N.Y./Fairfield University) each chipped in eight points with Rose also accumulating five assists and five rebounds.
Wilmington was led by Tyaire Ponzo-Meek who had a game-high 25 points on 9-of-17 shooting and had six rebounds and six assists. Brian Adkins scored 16 points and Ta'Vaune Griffin recorded a double-double with 14 points and ten rebounds.
The Mavericks came out with something to prove following last year's meeting between the two teams which saw the Wildcats dominate on their way to a 99-69 victory on December 15, 2014 in Wilmington.
Mercy jumped out to an 8-2 advantage at the 16:08 mark on a Raphael Jennings (Washington, D.C./ASA College) layup, forcing an early Wildcats timeout. The Mavericks continued to outplay Wilmington, who made the CACC Tournament Final a year ago, building a 16-8 lead after a Martinez layup with 12:20 left in the half.
A Rose layup at the 7:08 mark gave Mercy their largest lead of the contest at, 28-18, but the visitors stormed back with a 14-4 run over the next four minutes to knot things up at 32-32 with 3:29 left before halftime.
Wilmington retook the lead and built it up to three, 37-34, at the 1:42 mark, but the Mavericks responded with a pair of layups from Lyles and Jennings to close out the half and headed into the intermission up 38-37.
Despite the Wildcats shooting an impressive 52.0 percent from the field in the first half, Mercy was able to hold the lead with a 12-5 edge on the offensive glass and 17 Wilmington turnovers.
A Lyles jumper to start the second half upped the Mavericks lead to 40-37. However, Wilmington ensued with a 10-2 run to turn a three-point deficit into a five-point lead, 47-42, with 16:34 remaining.
Mercy did not go away as an Isaiah Cosbert trifecta would tie the game up at 49-49 with 13:57 showing on the clock. The visitors followed with a 16-4 run over the next three minutes to take their largest lead of the game 65-53 with ten minutes left. Ponzo-Meek led the charge for Wilmington with 21 points in the second half on 7-of-10 shooting.
The Mavericks did not back down and following a Lyles triple cut the deficit to four, 70-66, with 4:23 on the clock. Drew Johnson came down on the next possession for Wilmington and nailed a three-pointer for an answer to put the lead back up to seven, 73-66.
A pair of Rose free throws at the 2:31 mark cut the Wildcats lead to four, 76-72, but Ponzo-Meek followed with four of his seven made free throws in the half to bring the lead back to eight, 80-72, with under a minute left. Wilmington would hold on despite three missed free throws down the stretch and a pair of layups from Quijada.
Wilmington ended the afternoon shooting 53.6 percent (30-of-56) from the field and 9-of-20 from downtown, while the Mavericks shot 40.0 percent (30-of-75) and held a 46-38 edge on the glass.
Head Coach Dr. Jody King and the Mavericks will now travel to Division I Norfolk State for an exhibition contest on Wednesday, December 2nd at 7 p.m.
