OLD WESTBURY, N.Y. (Dec. 6, 2017) – Powered by five Mavericks scoring in double figures, the Mercy College men's basketball team earned their fourth straight win with a 100-71 victory over NYIT in their ECC opener on Wednesday night at Recreation Hall.
The Mavericks (5-2, 1-0 ECC) open up ECC play 1-0 for the first time since 2007-08 and snap a 21-game ECC regular season losing streak dating back to the 2015-16 season. The 29-point victory is the largest conference win for Mercy since an 85-56 victory over Molloy on December 2, 1991 when the conference was known as the NYCAC. The Bears (2-6, 0-1 ECC) open up ECC play with a loss and have dropped five games in a row.
Senior Marko Kozul (Astoria, N.Y./Archbishop Molloy) led Mercy with a game high 21 points on 7-of-13 shooting, while junior Dequawne Richards (Bronx, N.Y./Hostos CC) added a double-double with 20 points and ten rebounds. Junior Sal Barbetto (New City, N.Y./Rockland CC) added 17 points, seven rebounds and five assists and junior Chris Myers (Hackensack, N.J./Southeastern CC) contributed 17 points and five assists. Senior Kelvin Howard (Temple Hills, Md./Baltimore City CC) rounded out five Mavericks scoring in double figures with 10 points and seven rebounds.
NYIT was led by Kieran Hamilton who poured in 20 points, while Jeffrey Hayden had 16 points and 15 rebounds.
The Bears jumped out to a 13-6 lead at the 13:30 mark of the first half after a Hayden layup and looked to be pulling away from the Mavericks. However, Mercy continued their strong play and followed with a 28-8 run to take a 34-21 lead with 3:06 left before halftime.
A free throw from Richards at the 1:01 mark gave the Mavericks their largest lead of the half, 41-23. The Bears would end the half on a 5-2 run to cut the Mercy lead to 15, 43-28, at halftime.
The second half saw NYIT trim the Mavericks lead to 12, 49-37, with 16:45 left to play. The Bears continue to be within striking distance at the 13:22 mark, trailing just 58-45. Mercy would show that this is a different Mavericks team and responded with a 15-1 run to increase the lead to 27, 73-46, with 9:33 remaining.
Mercy would hold a 20-plus point lead the rest of the way and would increase their advantage to a game high 31 points, 100-69, with 38 seconds left. The Mavericks would cruise the rest of the way in securing their first ECC win in over a year.
Mercy shot 51.4 percent (38-of-74) from the floor, 45.5 percent (5-of-11) from downtown and 61.3 percent (19-of-31) from the foul line. NYIT shot 44.4 percent (28-of-63) from the field, 25.0 percent (4-of-16) from long distance and 36.7 percent (11-of-30) from the charity stripe. The Mavericks held a 54-34 edge in paint points, a 25-12 edge in points off turnover and a 46-20 advantage in bench points.
Head Coach Michael Maczko and the Mavericks look to make it five wins in a row when they host LIU Post on Saturday, December 9th at 2 p.m. at Westchester Community College.
