DOBBS FERRY, N.Y. (Feb. 12, 2022) – Powered by a career-high 24 points from junior Garrett Kirkland (Springdale, Md./Bishop McNamara), the Mercy College men's basketball team earned a 78-74 win over ECC foe Molloy College on Saturday afternoon at Victory Gymnasium.
The Mavericks (4-17, 4-10 ECC) have won two games in a row and now have their most ECC wins in a season since the 2018-19 season. Mercy also sweeps the season series with the Lions (7-16, 6-8 ECC) for the first time since the 2004-05 season.
Kirkland went 8-of-15 from the floor and 5-of-10 from downtown. Sophomore Jayden Dewaal (Toronto, Canada/Trinidad State Junior College) had 16 points on 6-of-9 shooting with a game-high 16 rebounds and sophomore Alex May (Englewood, N.J./St. Francis College (Brooklyn)) added a career-high 14 points. Junior Elijah Mitchell (Edison, N.J./Monroe College) netted 13 points and five rebounds and sophomore Jay Turner (Waterbury, Conn./Notre Dame West Haven Prep) recorded nine points.
Molloy was led by Darren Fergus who had a game-high 27 points.
Mercy took a 9-5 lead at the 17:58 mark of the first half after a May three. Molloy rallied with a 17-7 run to take a 22-16 lead with 11:49 left in the opening half. The Mavericks continued to battle and went on an 11-1 run, finished off a Mitchell dunk, to take a 27-23 lead at the 7:00 mark.
Molloy scored the next four points to tie the game at 27-27. However, Mercy ensued with a 10-2 run, capped off by a Dewaal layup, which gave the Mavericks their largest lead of the half, 37-29. A Fergus layup cut the Mercy lead to six, 37-31, heading into halftime.
Back-to-back threes from Kirkland to open the second half gave Mercy a 43-31 lead with 18:59 left. The Lions later made it an eight-point game, 50-42, at the 14:22 mark. The Mavericks responded with a 16-8 run, finished off by a Mitchell three-point play, to take their largest lead of the game, 66-50, with 8:37 remaining.
Molloy stormed back on a 19-6 run to cut the Mercy lead to just three, 72-69, with 1:48 left. Dewaal put back an offensive rebound on the next Maverick possession to give Mercy a five-point lead, 74-69, with 1:15 on the clock. The Mavericks built the lead back to seven, 77-70, with 35 seconds left after a pair of Dewaal free throws. A Frankie Phelan jumper with two seconds left got Molloy back to within three, 77-74, but Kirkland went 1-of-2 from the line to give the Mavericks the win.
Mercy shot 47.4 percent (27-of-57) from the floor, 43.8 percent (7-of-16) from downtown and 68.0 percent (17-of-25) from the foul line. Molloy shot 40.0 percent (28-of-70) from the field, 31.8 percent (7-of-22) from beyond the arc and 57.9 percent (11-of-19) from the charity stripe. Mercy held a 39-34 edge on the glass.
Head Coach Michael Maczko and the Mavericks resume action on Friday, February 18th when they play at D'Youville at 8 p.m.
