Lyles Posts Season-High 26 Points as Men's Basketball Slides Into ECC Tournament Spot With Victory Over Dowling
Box Score WHITE PLAINS, N.Y. (Jan. 20, 2016) – Powered by a season-high 26 points from senior Tyseem Lyles (Brooklyn, N.Y./Tompkins Cortland CC) and three other Mavericks scoring in double figures, the Mercy College men's basketball team moved into the final ECC playoff spot with a 96-86 victory over Dowling College on Wednesday night at the Westchester County Center.
The Mavericks (6-8, 4-5 ECC) are off to their best nine-game start in ECC play since the 2006-07 season and have now won two in a row the series against the Golden Lions (8-8, 4-5 ECC). With the win, Mercy moves into sixth place in the ECC with the top six qualifying for the season-ending ECC Tournament. The Mavericks have now won 14 games over the last two seasons which is the most wins for the program over a two-year stretch since the 2004-05 and 2005-06 teams won a combined 18 games. The win by the men capped off the first doubleheader sweep of an ECC foe by the men's and women's teams since the 2011-12 season when both teams won at Queens on February 18th. The last home sweep of a doubleheader against ECC competition came on February 19, 2011 against Molloy.
Lyles shot an impressive 9-of-12 from the field and 5-of-6 from downtown, adding seven rebounds and three steals. Junior Isaiah Cosbert (Queens, N.Y./Sullivan CC) continued his strong play, finishing with a season-high-tying 18 points, while junior William Robinson (Mount Vernon, N.Y./Nyack College) ended the night with 17 points and seven rebounds on 7-of-14 shooting. Junior K.J. Rose (Binghamton, N.Y./Fairfield University) rounded out four Mavericks scoring in double figures with 10 points, nine rebounds and five assists.
Dowling was paced by Evan Maxwell who had a game-high 27 points on 9-of-19 shooting.
Mercy entered the contest looking to build off their impressive victory at UDC on Saturday and they would not disappoint the energized home crowd at the Westchester County Center. The Mavericks got off to a 7-2 start as Lyles scored all seven points. Mercy built the lead up to eight, 17-9, following a Rose layup at the 14:34 mark. However, Dowling had a response as they came back on a 12-2 run to take their first lead of the night at 21-19 with 10:30 left in the first half.
The lead did not last long for the visitors as the Mavericks followed with a 7-2 run, capped off by a Shaquille Stokes (Harlem, N.Y./College of Saint Rose) jumper, to make it 26-23 in favor of Mercy at the 8:45 mark. After a Tristan Brown layup got Dowling within a point at 26-25, the Mavericks ensued with a 9-2 run with Cosbert connecting on three triples to increase the Mercy lead to 35-27 with 6:43 left.
The Mavericks increased the lead to as many as 13 on three separate occasions in the half and headed into the intermission up 52-41.
The guests came out of the locker rooms in the second half and showed they would not quit as they cut the deficit to just five, 54-49, with 18:09 left. A mini 9-2 run for the Mavericks upped the lead back to double figures, 63-51, with 15:32 remaining as Robinson came through with five points.
Dowling had one last run in them as they went on a 15-3 run over the next three minutes to tie things up at 66-66. Senior Joshua Thompson (Chester, Pa./Globe Institute) immediately responded with a layup and Stokes followed with a pair of free throws to give Mercy a 70-66 lead with 11:54 left. The Golden Lions came back with four answered to knot things up at 70-70. The two teams traded the lead back-and-forth over the next few minutes until the Mavericks took a 76-76 tie and turned it into an 86-78 lead with 3:54 left following a 10-2 run.
The visitors got within six, 88-82, with 2:29 to play but that was the closest they got as Mercy upped the lead back to double digits and held on for the victory.
The Mavericks shot 47.2 percent from the floor and went 9-of-18 from downtown, while Dowling shot 50.0 percent from the field. Mercy held a 41-36 edge on the boards and went 19-of-25 from the charity stripe.
