SPARKILL, N.Y. (Nov. 11, 2017) – Led by four Mavericks scoring in double figures, the Mercy College men's basketball team opened up their 2017-18 season with an 89-82 victory over Saint Michael's College in Head Coach Michael Maczko's debut as head coach on Saturday night at St. Thomas Aquinas College.
The Mavericks (1-0) defeat the Purple Knights (0-1) for the second straight year and snap a 17-game losing streak with the win.
Leading Mercy was junior Dequawne Richards (Bronx, N.Y./Hostos CC) who recorded a double-double in his debut with 27 points and 11 rebounds on 10-of-21 shooting. Junior Sal Barbetto (New City, N.Y./Rockland CC) poured in 22 points on 7-of-12 shooting in his debut and junior Chris Myers (Hackensack, N.J./Southeastern CC) netted 13 points, seven assists and six rebounds in his debut. Senior Kelvin Howard (Temple Hills, Md./Baltimore City CC) rounded out four Mavericks scoring in double figures with 11 points and seven rebounds.
Saint Michael's was led by Levi Holmes III who had a game-high 29 points along with nine rebounds.
The Purple Knights opened the contest with a 17-8 lead at the 13:30 mark of the first after a three from Holmes III and looked to be pulling away from the Mavericks. Myers followed with a layup to cut the deficit to seven, but a Colin Richey jumper at the 12:20 mark gave Saint Michael's their first double-digit lead of the game, 21-11.
A three-point play from Derek Cheatom gave the Purple Knights a 15-point lead, 30-15, with 8:36 remaining in the half. Mercy regrouped and went on a 25-9 run over the next eight minutes to take a 40-39 lead with 46 seconds on the clock after a three-pointer by Richards. After a pair of free throws briefly gave Saint Michael's the lead back, Howard drained a trifecta at the buzzer to put Mercy ahead, 43-41, at halftime.
Mercy shot 51.5 percent from the floor in the opening half and held Saint Michael's to 45.2 percent shooting.
Barbetto began the second half with a jumper to put the Mavericks up 45-41, but the Purple Knights battled back and retook the lead at 48-47 with 16:59 remaining. Mercy quickly came back with a 13-4 run to take the lead back and increase it to eight, 60-52, after a three from Barbetto.
Saint Michael's continued to claw their way back and got within three on a couple of occasions with the last coming at 72-69 with 4:39 remaining. The Purple Knights looked to be on the verge of overtaking the Mavericks, but Mercy was having none of it and followed with a 15-5 run to increase the lead to a game-high 13 points, 87-74, with 44 seconds left. The Mavericks would lead the rest of the way in giving Coach Maczko his first win as a collegiate head coach.
Mercy shot 48.5 percent (32-of-66) from the floor, 35.7 percent (5-of-14) from downtown and 83.3 percent (20-of-24) from the foul line. Saint Michael's shot 43.3 percent (29-of-67) from the field, 35.1 percent (13-of-37) from long distance and 64.7 percent (11-of-17) from the charity stripe.
Head Coach Michael Maczko and the Mavericks resume action tomorrow when they play New Haven at 4 p.m. at St. Thomas Aquinas College.
