DOBBS FERRY, N.Y. (Dec. 12, 2018) – Powered by a game-high 26 points and 12 rebounds from redshirt sophomore Bryan Griffin (Pomona, N.Y./Saint Joseph Regional), the Mercy College men's basketball team earned a 61-56 victory over ECC foe Queens College on Wednesday night at the Victory Hall Sports Center.
The Mavericks (4-5, 2-1 ECC) have won two games in a row and are off to their best ECC start since 2007-08, while the Knights (1-10, 1-2 ECC) fall below .500 in ECC play.
Griffin went 10-of-17 from the floor and added three blocks. Senior Amir Atkins (Alexandria, Va./Hagerstown CC) finished with 11 points and five rebounds. Graduate student Tawayne Anderson Jr. (Freeport, N.Y./Merrimack College) recorded nine points, five rebounds and four assists and senior Daquon Ervin (Brooklyn, N.Y./UMBC) had eight points and three assists.
Queens was led by Shomari Redd and Wayne Li who both had a team-high 12 points.
Mercy opened the contest on a 10-0 run, capped off by a Griffin dunk, that forced a Queens timeout with 15:59 left in the first half. The Knights finally got on the board at the 15:37 mark and made it a seven-point game, 12-5, with 11:07 on the clock. The Mavericks responded with a 12-5 run, finished off by a Ervin layup, that gave Mercy a 14-point lead, 24-10, with just over five minutes left in the opening half.
Queens narrowed the deficit to nine, 24-15, but the Mavericks answered with a 6-0 run to increase the lead to 15, 30-15, and headed into halftime up, 32-17.
The Knights started the second half on a 12-5 run to get within eight, 37-29, with 16 minutes remaining. Following a Mercy timeout, the Mavericks went on a 6-1 run to put the lead to 13, 43-30, with 10:52 left.
Mercy maintained a double-digit lead until the 3:04 mark when the Knights made it a nine-point game, 53-44. Griffin followed with a dunk to increase the lead back to 11, 55-44, with 2:10 showing. However, the Knights would go on a 10-2 run to cut the Mercy lead to just three, 57-54, with 40 seconds left. Anderson went 2-of-2 from the line to make it a five-point game and Queens would get two attempts at a three before Li drew a foul with 25 seconds left. Li went 2-of-2 from the line to once again make it a three-point game, but Atkins answered with two free throws of his own to increase the lead to five, 61-56, with 21 seconds left. The Mercy defense would hold the Knights scoreless the rest of the way to give the Mavericks the win.
Mercy shot 42.3 percent (22-of-52) from the floor, 26.7 percent (4-of-15) from downtown and 68.4 percent (13-of-19) from the foul line. Queens shot 32.3 percent (20-of-62) from the field, 25.0 percent (6-of-24) from long distance and 71.4 percent (10-of-14) from the charity stripe. Queens held a 39-37 edge on the glass.
Head Coach Michael Maczko and the Mavericks resume action on Saturday, December 15th when they play at Molloy at 2 p.m.
