NYACK, N.Y. (Feb. 21, 2018) – Despite six Mavericks scoring in double figures, the Mercy College men's basketball team dropped an 86-76 decision to ECC foe Queens College on Wednesday night at Bowman Gymnasium.
The Mavericks (10-18, 5-12 ECC) drop their second straight game and are eliminated from ECC Tournament contention with the loss, while the Knights (9-15, 7-10 ECC) sit a game ahead of Molloy for the sixth and final ECC Tournament spot.
Mercy was led by senior Marko Kozul (Astoria, N.Y./Felician University) who had a team-high 18 points, while senior Kelvin Howard (Temple Hills, Md./Baltimore City CC) has 12 points and eight rebounds. Junior Sal Barbetto (New City, N.Y./Rockland CC) recorded 12 points and junior Chris Myers (Hackensack, N.J./Southeastern CC) had a double-double with ten points and ten assists. Junior Dequawne Richards (Bronx, N.Y./Hostos CC) and redshirt freshman Bryan Griffin (Pomona, N.Y./Saint Joseph Regional) both netted 11 points to round out six scoring in double figures.
Queens was led by Tyrone Hall who had a game-high 22 points.
The visitors scored just nine seconds in and would hold the lead the rest of the way. The Knights jumped out to a 9-2 lead at the 16:02 mark and later increased the lead to 11, 27-16, with 9:26 left in the opening half.
Mercy followed with eight straight points to cut the deficit to three, 27-24, with 8:10 on the clock. It would be a 29-26 game after a Richards free throw, but the Knights responded with a 17-9 run to increase the lead back to 11, 46-35, with 1:12 on the clock. Queens would hold an 11-point lead, 48-37, heading into halftime.
A Hall three-pointer at the 18:40 mark of the second half gave the Knights a 51-38 lead. Mercy got within seven, 54-47, after a three-point play from Kozul with 15:33 left. Queens then came back with nine unanswered points to take their largest lead of the game, 63-47, with 11:36 on the clock.
The Mavericks continued to battle and went on a 15-4 run to make it a five-point game, 67-62, with 6:21 left to play. However, that would be the closest Mercy could get for the remainder of the game as Queens built the lead back to double digits and held on for the win.
Mercy shot 36.4 percent (24-of-66) from the floor, 31.8 percent (7-of-22) from downtown and 75.0 percent (21-of-28) from the foul line. Queens shot 48.3 percent (29-of-60) from the field, 43.3 percent (13-of-30) from beyond the arc and 68.2 percent (15-of-22) from the charity stripe.
Head Coach Michael Maczko and the Mavericks conclude their season on Saturday, February 24th at Molloy at 4 p.m.
