DOBBS FERRY, N.Y. (Jan. 15, 2025) – Powered by the game-winning shot at the buzzer from freshman Nathan Robertson (Boston, Mass./The Winchendon School), the Mercy University men's basketball team overcame a 21-point halftime deficit to earn a 64-62 win over ECC foe Queens College on Wednesday night at the Neil Judge Student Athlete Center.

The Mavericks (5-10, 4-2 ECC) have won two games in a row and defeat the Knights (7-10, 3-2 ECC) for the second straight time. Mercy starts 4-2 in ECC play for the first time and now has their most ECC wins in a season since the 2021-22 season. Mercy outscored Queens 40-17 in the second half and held the Knights to 30.0 percent shooting. The Mavericks also won at the buzzer on an Ethan Robertson (Boston, Mass./The Winchendon School) jumper in their ECC opener on December 6th against Roberts Wesleyan.

Mercy was led by freshman Ethan Robertson who had a game-high 18 points with seven rebounds. Nathan Robertson had 14 points and three assists and sophomore Derek Long (Milford, Conn./Deerfield Academy) scored 11 points. Sophomore Shedrach Makanjuola (Boston, Mass./Quincy College) had eight points, a game-high 13 rebounds, three blocks and a game-high five steals and junior TJ Holloway (Stratford, Conn./Central Connecticut State University) had five points. Senior Taj Chiles (Harlem, N.Y./University of Bridgeport) contributed four points and three assists and junior Jamal Jacobs (Tampa, Fla./West Virginia Wesleyan College) and senior Max Mitchell (Westport, Conn./Roberts Wesleyan University) each had two points.

Queens was led by Shamar Chester and Omar Nkonde who both had a team-high 17 points.

Mercy jumped out to a 5-2 lead after a Holloway three with 17:33 left in the first half. Queens answered with a 17-0 run to take a 19-5 lead with 12:18 remaining in the half. A Jayden Seraphin dunk at the 7:30 mark later gave the Knights a 28-10 lead before a Long three made it 28-13.

Back-to-back threes from Long later made it 32-22 with 4:22 left in the opening half. Queens ended the half on a 13-2 run to take their largest lead of the game, 45-24, heading into halftime.

The Knights looked to have the game well in hand, but the Mavericks had other plans and scored the first seven points of the second half to make it 45-31 after a Nathan Robertson tip-in with 16:15 remaining. A Jade Tse jumper made it 47-31, but the Mavericks continued to battle and went on a 26-10 run, capped off by an Ethan Robertson layup, to tie the score at 57-57 with 5:40 left.

A Chester three with 5:01 left gave Queens a 60-57 lead before Ethan Robertson went 1-of-2 from the line with 3:59 remaining to make it 60-58. A Nathan Robertson layup with 1:36 left later tied the score at 60-60. After the teams traded empty possessions, Damiri Lindo went 2-of-2 from the line with 27 seconds left to give the Knights a 62-60 lead with 27 seconds remaining. Long was fouled on the next Mercy possession and went 2-of-2 from the line to tie the score at 62-62 with 13 seconds remaining. Queens turned the ball over on their next possession thanks to a Makanjuola steal, giving Mercy the ball with three seconds left. After two timeouts by Mercy, Makanjuola fed a pass to Nathan Robertson and Robertson drove to the basket and connected on a driving layup as time expired to give Mercy a 64-62 win.

Mercy shot 36.5 percent (23-of-63) from the floor, 29.4 percent (5-of-17) from downtown and 72.2 percent (13-of-18) from the foul line. Queens shot 44.2 percent (23-of-52) from the field, 37.5 percent (6-of-16) from beyond the arc and 71.4 percent (10-of-14) from the charity stripe. Queens held a 37-36 edge on the glass. Mercy held an 18-2 edge in points off turnovers in the second half.

Head Coach Chris Watts and the Mavericks resume action on Saturday, January 18th when they play at Molloy at 2:30 p.m.