NYACK, N.Y. (Feb. 14, 2018) – Led by all five starters scoring in double figures, the Mercy College men's basketball team celebrated Senior Night with a 92-73 victory over Mansfield University on Wednesday night at Bowman Gymnasium.
In a ceremony prior to the game seniors Kelvin Howard (Temple Hills, Md./Baltimore City CC), Brendon Smith (Baltimore, Md./Baltimore City CC) and Marko Kozul (Astoria, N.Y./Felician University) were recognized for their contributions to the Mercy College men's basketball program over the last two years.
The Mavericks (10-16) snap a three-game losing streak and have five times more wins then all of last year. Mercy now has double-digit victories in a season for just the second time since 2005. The Mountaineers (6-17) fall to 0-3 all-time against the Mavericks and have dropped six games in a row.
Smith led the Mavericks with a double-double by way of 15 points, 13 rebounds and five blocks. Junior Sal Barbetto (New City, N.Y./Rockland CC) netted 16 points, seven rebounds and seven assists and Howard contributed ten points and seven rebounds. Freshman Shannon Denny (Queens, N.Y./The Pomfret School) added a career-high 13 points and Kozul ended the night with a team-high 23 points on 8-of-17 shooting.
Mansfield was led by Malik Carter who had a game-high 26 points on 11-of-19 shooting.
The Mountaineers scored the first two points of the game and led 4-3 less than a minute into the contest. However, that would be their last lead of the game as the Mavericks went on a 17-5 run to take a 20-9 lead with 12:58 on the clock, forcing a Mansfield timeout.
The guests responded out of the timeout by cutting the Mercy lead to four on two occasions with the latter coming at 31-27 with 6:35 remaining in the half. The Mavericks quickly answered with a 10-2 run, capped off by a Dequawne Richards (Bronx, N.Y./Hostos CC) dunk, that gave Mercy a 41-29 lead. The Mountaineers later trimmed the Mercy lead to six, but the Mavericks would regroup and head into halftime with a 51-42 lead.
Mercy continued their strong play to begin the second half, opening the period on an 11-2 that put the Mavericks lead to 18, 62-44, four minutes into the half. An Andreas Katopodis three made it a 16-point game, 69-53, with 11:28 remaining. The Mavericks came right back and went on an 11-3 run to take their largest lead of the night, 80-56, with 8:23 left.
Mansfield would not go away and responded with 13 straight points to get within 11, 80-69, at the 3:30 mark. That would be the closest they could get as Mercy scored eight unanswered of their own to put the lead back to 19, 88-69, with under two minutes to play. The Mavericks would cruise the rest of the way in securing their tenth win of the season.
Mercy shot 50.7 percent (36-of-71) from the field, 40.0 percent (10-of-25) from downtown and 66.7 percent (10-of-15) from the foul line. Mansfield shot 48.4 percent (31-of-64) from the floor, 18.8 percent (3-of-16) from beyond the arc and 72.7 percent (8-of-11) from the charity stripe.
Head Coach Michael Maczko and the Mavericks resume action on Saturday, February 17th when they play at Bridgeport at 3 p.m.
