CALDWELL, N.J. (Nov. 10, 2023) – Despite three Mavericks scoring in double figures, the Mercy University men's basketball team opened their 2023-24 season with a 114-82 setback at Caldwell University on Friday night at the Newman Center.
The Mavericks (0-1) fail to win their first season opener since 2017, while the defending CACC champion Cougars (1-0) open their season with a win.
Mercy was led by senior Jayden Dewaal (Toronto, Canada/Trinidad State Junior College) who had a team-high 22 points on 9-of-16 shooting with a game-high-tying nine rebounds. Senior Alex May (Englewood, N.J./St. Francis College (Brooklyn) added 16 points and six rebounds and junior Taj Chiles (Harlem, N.Y./University of Bridgeport) had 12 points on 5-of-8 shooting with three assists in his Mercy debut. Senior Braelon Joe (Houston, Texas/Monroe College) contributed nine points and freshman Derek Long (Milford, Conn./Deerfield Academy) recorded seven points in his collegiate debut.
Caldwell was led by Darnell Evans who had a game-high 26 points and seven assists.
The Cougars jumped out to a 17-5 lead at the 14:37 mark of the first half before back-to-back baskets from Dewaal and Joe made it 17-9 with 13:51 left in the half. Caldwell would increase the lead back to 12, 22-10, with 12:39 remaining in the half.
The Mavericks stormed back on a 16-6 run, capped off by a May jumper, to cut the Cougars lead to just two, 28-26, with 8:26 left in the opening half. Caldwell scored the next five points to increase the lead back to seven, 33-26, with seven minutes left in the half.
A May layup with 5:39 on the clock cut the Cougars lead to five, 35-30. Caldwell ensued with an 18-7 run to take their largest lead of the half, 53-37, with 45 seconds on the clock. A Chiles layup and a freshman Zein Wahdan (Alexandria, Egypt/Springfield Commonwealth Academy) free throw made it 53-40 in favor of Caldwell at halftime.
Mercy opened the second half on an 8-2 run to cut the Cougars lead to seven, 55-48, after back-to-back baskets from May. Caldwell followed with seven straight points to put the lead back to 14, 62-48, before four straight points from the Mavericks made it 62-52 with 15:22 remaining. A Dewaal free throw at the 14:03 mark made it 66-57, but the Cougars went on a 16-0 run to increase the lead to 25, 82-57, with 10:13 left to play.
Caldwell later built the lead to a game-high 37 points, 114-77, with 56 seconds left on the clock. Five straight points from Long to close out the game made the final score, 114-82.
Mercy shot 43.7 percent (31-of-71) from the floor, 25.0 percent (4-of-16) from downtown and 50.0 percent (16-of-32) from the foul line. Caldwell shot 60.3 percent (41-of-68) from the field, 43.5 percent (10-of-23) from beyond the arc and 75.9 percent (22-of-29) from the charity stripe. Caldwell held a 41-40 edge on the glass.
Head Coach Chris Watts and the Mavericks resume action on Sunday, November 12th when they face Dominican at Caldwell at 1 p.m.
