DOBBS FERRY, N.Y. (Jan. 2, 2019) – Despite a career-high 11 points from freshman Korey Lee (Huntington Station, N.Y./Trinity Pawling), the Mercy College men's basketball team dropped a 76-59 decision to Adelphi University in their first game of 2019 on Wednesday night at the Victory Hall Sports Center.
The Mavericks (4-7) have dropped two games in a row, while the Panthers (7-6) move over .500 with the win.
Lee went a perfect 4-of-4 from the field and 3-of-3 from downtown. Senior Amir Atkins (Alexandria, Va./Hagerstown CC) added eight points and graduate student Tawayne Anderson Jr. (Freeport, N.Y./Merrimack College) recorded eight points and a game-high-tying eight rebounds. Redshirt sophomore Bryan Griffin (Pomona, N.Y./Saint Joseph Regional) netted six points and seven rebounds and senior Sal Barbetto (New City, N.Y./Rockland CC) and freshmen Dondre Barnes (Atlanta, Ga./South Atlanta) and Lamont Williams Jr. (Irvington, N.J./County College of Morris) finished with six points apiece.
Adelphi was led by Ronnie Silva who had a game-high 17 points.
The Panthers started the game with an 8-0 lead with 13:53 left to play in the first half. The Mavericks finally got on the board at the 13:20 mark on a three from Williams Jr. Mercy made it a three-point game, 8-5, on a Griffin layup with 12:49 on the clock.
Adelphi followed with a 16-1 run over the next five minutes to take a 24-6 lead with 7:42 left before halftime. The Mavericks came back with a 7-0 run to trim the lead to 11, 24-13, with 4:46 remaining in the half, but the Panthers answered with a 14-3 run to take their largest lead of the game, 38-16. A Lee jumper right before halftime sent Mercy into the locker rooms down, 38-18.
Mercy opened the second half with back-to-back baskets from Barnes and Barbetto to cut the deficit to 16, 38-22. Adelphi followed with six straight points to put the lead back to 22, 44-22, with 16:58 left to play.
The Panthers held a 21-point lead, 49-28, with 13:44 remaining and looked to have the game well in hand. The Mavericks had other ideas as they went on a 15-3 run to cut the deficit to single digits, 52-43, with 11 minutes left. A three from Jack Laffey for Adelphi on their next possession put the lead to 12 and a three from Conor McGuinness increased the lead to 15, 61-46, with 7:35 on the clock. A dunk from Austin Beech with 3:23 remaining capped a 22-9 run after Mercy made it a nine-point game, giving Adelphi a 74-52 advantage with 3:23 remaining. The Panthers held on for the victory despite the Mavericks outscoring Adelphi 41-38 in the second half.
Mercy shot 33.3 percent (22-of-66) from the floor, 26.7 percent (8-of-30) from downtown and 77.8 percent (7-of-9) from the foul line. Adelphi shot 52.6 percent (30-of-57) from the field, 37.9 percent (11-of-29) from beyond the arc and 50.0 percent (5-of-10) from the charity stripe. Adelphi held a 40-34 edge on the glass and a 12-4 advantage in fast break points.
Head Coach Michael Maczko and the Mavericks resume action on Saturday, January 5th when they play at Pace at 3 p.m.
