DOBBS FERRY, N.Y. (Feb. 8, 2023) – Despite a team-high 20 points and career-high 23 rebounds from junior Jayden Dewaal (Toronto, Canada/Trinidad State Junior College), the Mercy College men's basketball team dropped an 81-63 decision to ECC foe No. 18 St. Thomas Aquinas College on Wednesday night at the Neil Judge Student Athlete Center.

The Mavericks (3-18, 1-11 ECC) have dropped two games in a row and have lost 21 straight meetings to the Spartans (21-3, 12-0 ECC).

Dewaal went 9-of-19 from the floor and set a new career high in rebounds for the second straight game. Graduate student Sean Smith Jr. (Yonkers, N.Y./University of New Haven) had nine points and five rebounds and senior James Taylor Jr. (South Chesterfield, Va./Neosho County CC) had seven points. Freshman Asa Kone (Bronx, N.Y./Eagle Academy for Young Men) recorded six points and freshman Sean Conroy (Staten Island, N.Y./Trinity-Pawling) netted five points. Senior Jonathan Lapierre (Silver Spring, Md./Springbrook) produced five points and seven rebounds and senior Brandon Wilson (Farmingdale, N.J./Covenant College Prep) had four points. Junior Braelon Joe (Houston, Texas/Monroe College) netted three points and graduate student Korey Lee (Huntington Station, N.Y./Trinity-Pawling) and junior Jay Turner (Waterbury, Conn./Notre Dame West Haven Prep) each added two points.

St. Thomas Aquinas was led by Kyle Pulliam who had a game-high 26 points.

The score was tied at 2-2 after a Dewaal layup before the Spartans went on a 23-5 run to take a 25-7 lead with 12:31 left in the first half. A Taylor Jr. three at the 9:03 mark cut the Spartans lead to 12, 26-14. However, St. Thomas Aquinas followed with a 12-2 run to increase their lead to 22, 38-16, with 4:54 on the clock.

The Spartans would head into halftime with a 47-24 lead after a Pulliam three right before the end of the half.

Mercy opened the second half on a 5-0 run, finished off by a Dewaal layup, to make it 47-29 with 18:08 left. The Spartans rallied with an 18-6 run to take their largest lead of the game, 65-35, with 13:23 remaining.

The Mavericks scored the next six points to make it 65-41 with 9:42 left. The Spartans led by double figures the rest of the way, holding a 24-point lead with 24 seconds before Mercy scored six points in the final 19 seconds to cut the Spartans advantage to 18, 81-63, to end the game.

Mercy shot 33.3 percent (24-of-72) from the floor, 12.5 percent (2-of-16) from downtown and 59.1 percent (13-of-22) from the foul line. St. Thomas Aquinas shot 41.9 percent (31-of-74) from the field, 34.4 percent (11-of-32) from beyond the arc and 66.7 percent (8-of-12) from the charity stripe. Mercy held a 56-43 edge on the glass.

Interim Head Coach Chris Watts and the Mavericks resume action on Saturday, February 11th when they play at Bridgeport at 3 p.m.