ORANGEBURG, N.Y. (Nov. 18, 2018) – Powered by the game-winning free throw with one second on the clock from senior Sal Barbetto (New City, N.Y./Rockland CC), the Mercy College men's basketball team picked up a 61-60 victory over Post University on Sunday afternoon at the Daniel Sullivan Memorial Tournament.
The Mavericks (1-3) pick up their first win of the season, while the Eagles (1-3) have dropped three games in a row.
Redshirt sophomore Bryan Griffin (Pomona, N.Y./Saint Joseph Regional) led the way for Mercy with a double-double by way of 16 points and ten rebounds on 6-of-11 shooting. Barbetto finished with 13 points and four assists and sophomore Matthew Alectus (Hollywood, Fla./Hallandale) had 12 points on 5-of-10 shooting. Senior Amir Atkins (Alexandria, Va./Hagerstown CC) recorded eight points and graduate student Tawayne Anderson Jr. (Freeport, N.Y./Merrimack College) had a game-high-tying ten rebounds along with four points.
Post was led by Tyshon Rogers who had a game-high 29 points.
Mercy opened the contest on a 9-2 run, capped off by an Alectus three-point play, that gave the Mavericks a seven-point lead with 17:41 on the clock. The Eagles cut the deficit to three, 11-8, with 15:59 remaining in the first half after a jumper by Rogers.
The Mavericks responded with a 17-2 run over six minutes to build a 28-10 lead following a Griffin three-pointer with 9:27 left before halftime. Post made it a 17-point game, 30-13, after a Marcus Johnson jumper at the 5:54 mark. Mercy answered with a 12-3 run, capped off by an Anderson layup, that gave the Mavericks a game-high 26-point lead, 42-16, with one minute remaining in the half. Mercy headed into halftime with a 44-22 lead after holding Post to just 21.4 percent shooting in the half.
The Eagles started the second half on a 32-8 run to take a 54-52 lead with 5:20 left to play after a Rogers layup. Post would increase their lead to a game-high six points, 60-54, with 2:38 remaining following a Darryl Stewart layup.
Mercy ensued with a 6-0 run over the next two runs, capped off by an Alectus layup, which tied the score at 60-60 with 27 seconds left. After a Post timeout, Stewart missed a jumper and Anderson corralled the rebound with 14 seconds left. The Mavericks called a timeout with a nine seconds remaining and put the ball in Barbetto's hands. The senior drove to the basket and was fouled by Rogers with one second remaining. Barbetto missed the first but would connect on the second to give Mercy a 61-60 lead. Following an Eagle timeout, a Rogers three-pointer at the buzzer did not fall giving the Mavericks their first win of the season.
Mercy shot 44.4 percent (24-of-54) from the floor, 40.0 percent (6-of-15) from downtown and 77.8 percent (7-of-9) from the foul line. Post shot 35.4 percent (28-of-79) from the field, 0.0 percent (0-of-20) from downtown and 40.0 percent (4-of-10) from the charity stripe. Mercy held a 42-38 edge on the glass and a 21-8 advantage in bench points. Post forced 28 Mercy turnovers, which led to a 35-13 edge in points off turnovers for the Eagles.
Head Coach Michael Maczko and the Mavericks resume action on Sunday, November 25th when they host Pace at 2 p.m.
