Lyles Posts Season-High 18 Points as Men's Basketball Travels to Felician
Box Score RUTHERFORD, N.J. (Jan. 14, 2016) – Despite a season-high 18 points from senior Tyseem Lyles (Brooklyn, N.Y./Tompkins Cortland CC), the Mercy College men's basketball team dropped a 75-66 decision to Felician University on Thursday night at Job Gymnasium.
The Mavericks (4-8) have now dropped four straight, while the Golden Falcons (6-10) have won two in a row following a five-game skid.
Lyles shot 6-of-12 from the field and added five rebounds, while junior Isaiah Cosbert (Queens, N.Y./Sullivan CC) continued his strong play scoring 16 points on 4-of-9 shooting. Junior William Robinson (Mount Vernon, N.Y./Nyack College) nearly recorded a double-double with eight points and 11 rebounds and senior Shaquille Stokes (Harlem, N.Y./College of Saint Rose) added in eight points of his own.
Felician was led by Jeyvi Miavivululu who had a game-high 24 points along with six rebounds.
Mercy entered the night looking to snap a three-game losing streak and opened the scoring as Lyles made a jumper at the 19:39 mark. The Golden Falcons came right back with an 11-4 run to take an 11-6 lead with 15:26 left in the opening stanza.
A Cosbert trifecta at the 11:18 mark capped a 10-2 run for the Mavericks that gave Mercy a 16-13 lead. Felician cut the deficit to two, 19-17, following a Jamal Reid layup, but the Mavericks had an answer as they responded with an 18-8 run to build their lead to a game-high 12 points, 37-25, with just over a minute left in the period. The Golden Falcons trimmed the Mercy lead to nine, 37-28, as the two teams headed into halftime.
The Mavericks shot a strong 48.3 percent (14-of-29) from the floor in the first half, while containing the hosts to a 44.0 percent (11-of-25) clip.
Senior Joshua Thompson (Chester, Pa./Globe Institute) got Mercy on the board first in the second half to increase the lead to 39-28 early in the frame and the Mavericks looked to be in control. A Thompson tip-in at the 16:44 mark gave Mercy back an 11-point lead, 44-33, but Felician would not go down without a fight and came back with an 11-0 run to even up the score at 44-44 with 13:23 left.
Stokes answered immediately with a trifecta to give the Mavericks back the lead at 47-44, but Miavivululu knocked one down of his own to level things up again. The Golden Falcons regained the lead, 50-47, for the first time since early in the first half following a Tim Massado three-pointer with 11:46 left.
Felician built the lead up to four, 54-50, with 10:18 remaining and looked to have all the momentum on their side, but Mercy had another run in them as they came back on an 8-3 spurt to take back the lead, 58-57, after a Gerald McClease (New Haven, Conn./Sullivan CC) triple with 6:38 showing on the clock.
However, that was the last time the Mavericks held the lead as the Golden Falcons ensued with a 16-4 run to take their largest lead of the game, 73-62, with 32 seconds left. Felician was aided by the Mavericks going nearly three minutes without a point after Lyles had cut the deficit to two, 64-62, on a jumper with 3:22 left. The deficit proved too much for Mercy to overcome and the Golden Falcons held on for the come-from-behind victory.
The Mavericks shot only 33.3 percent (10-of-30) in the second half to finish the night at 40.7 percent (24-of-59), while the Golden Falcons hit 53.8 percent (14-of-26) of their attempts in the second half to finish the evening shooting 49.0 percent (25-of-51). Felician was also helped in the second half by going 14-of-20 from the charity stripe compared to 7-of-10 for the Mavericks. Mercy held a 41-29 edge on the boards and 32-16 advantage in bench points.
Head Coach Dr. Jody King and the Mavericks look to bounce back as they travel to District of Columbia for an ECC tilt on Saturday, January 16th at 2 p.m.
