BROOKVILLE, N.Y. (Feb. 3, 2018) – Despite a team-high 16 points from junior Dequawne Richards (Bronx, N.Y./Hostos CC), the Mercy College men's basketball team suffered a 79-67 setback to ECC foe LIU Post on Saturday afternoon at the Pratt Center.

The Mavericks (9-14, 5-8 ECC) have dropped six of their last seven games, while the Pioneers (9-13, 7-5 ECC) move into a tie for fourth place in the ECC standings. Mercy currently sits a half game in front of Molloy for the sixth and final ECC Tournament spot.

Richards went 6-of-13 from the floor and added two rebounds. Freshman Matthew Alectus (Hollywood, Fla./Hallandale) added nine points and four rebounds and senior Marko Kozul (Astoria, N.Y./Felician University) contributed eight points and six rebounds. Senior Henoc Bienne (Valley Stream, N.Y./Paris JC) netted eight points on 3-of-4 shooting and junior Chris Myers (Hackensack, N.J./Southeastern CC) recorded five points and seven assists.

LIU Post was led by Aary Bibens who had a game-high 21 points on 7-of-10 shooting.

The Pioneers jumped out to a 14-0 lead at the 15:20 mark of the first half and held a 23-3 advantage with 12:25 remaining in the half. Mercy cut the deficit to 16, 23-7, on a Daquon Ervin (Brooklyn, N.Y./UMBC) jumper, but LIU Post rattled off eight straight points to take a 31-7 lead with 7:41 remaining.

The hosts later increased the lead to 26, 46-20, with 1:43 on the clock and headed into halftime with a 48-26 lead after a Jared Rivers layup right before the end of the half.

LIU Post put the lead to a game-high 27 points, 64-37, with 10:29 left in the second half. Mercy would not go down without a fight and responded with a 15-3 run to cut the deficit to 15, 67-52, with 6:19 remaining. The Pioneers answered with five straight points to take a 20-point lead, 72-52, with 4:31 left.

The Mavericks continued to battle and went on an 8-0 run to get within 12, 72-60, with just three minutes left. That would be the closest Mercy could get the rest of the way as LIU Post held on for the victory.

Mercy shot 39.0 percent (23-of-59) from the floor, 29.2 percent (7-of-24) from downtown and 73.7 percent (14-of-19) from the foul line. LIU Post shot 47.2 percent (25-of-53) from the field, 60.0 percent (15-of-25) from beyond the arc and 87.5 percent (14-of-16) from the charity stripe.

Head Coach Michael Maczko and the Mavericks resume action on Wednesday, February 7th when they host St. Thomas Aquinas College at 7:30 p.m. at Nyack College.